In the waning days of the 2025 midterm campaign, a political firestorm has erupted over the public release of a Young Republican group chat riddled with racist, sexist, and antisemitic language. The fallout, first reported by Politico on October 15, has sent shockwaves through both parties, forcing candidates and party leaders into a high-stakes scramble to manage the damage—and the narrative.
The controversy centers on a trove of 2,900 pages of Telegram messages exchanged among leaders and members of the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) and its affiliates in states like New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont. According to Politico, these exchanges included not only racist slurs but also jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers. Some participants openly worried their remarks might be leaked, even as they continued their inflammatory banter.
The reaction was swift and fierce. The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s official organization for members aged 18 to 40, wasted no time calling for those involved to step down. In a statement posted to X on October 15, the group declared it was “appalled” by the reported messages, describing them as “disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents.” The group demanded resignations from those implicated, hoping to stem the reputational damage.
But the scandal quickly spilled into the broader political arena, with Democrats seizing on the revelations as a cudgel against their Republican rivals. As Politico reported, New York Democrats, including Governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, moved aggressively to link GOP candidates to the hateful messages. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the House Majority PAC targeted battleground Republicans, especially those with ties to members of the chat. Hochul, a top Trump critic, went on the offensive against her likely gubernatorial opponent, Rep. Elise Stefanik, over her connections to some chat participants. “Antisemitism is a real issue. Political violence is a real issue. Racism is a real issue,” Hochul posted on October 15 in response to Vice President JD Vance’s dismissive remarks. “The deflecting and nonstop excuses are bullshit. Everyone from the President down must forcefully condemn this.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer echoed the demand for accountability, calling the chat “revolting” and urging leading Republicans—including Donald Trump and Vice President Vance—to “condemn these comments swiftly and unequivocally.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also joined the fray, accusing New York Republicans Mike Lawler and Elise Stefanik of “palling around with these racist, antisemitic and bigoted ‘Young Republicans’ for years.” Jeffries charged, “Their silence exposes what’s always been true—the phony outrage was nothing more than performance.”
Republican leaders, meanwhile, found themselves split between condemnation and deflection. Some, like Vermont’s GOP Governor Phil Scott and legislative leaders, demanded the resignation of state Senator Sam Douglass, a chat participant, calling the comments “unacceptable and deeply disturbing.” In Kansas, GOP Chair Danedri Herbert insisted the remarks “do not reflect the beliefs of Republicans and certainly not of Kansas Republicans at large.” More than 20 state Young Republican federations issued statements distancing themselves from the chat, with a joint declaration from 12 Southern states calling the rhetoric “antithetical to the values of the Republican party.”
Others in the party, however, downplayed the controversy or sought to redirect attention to inflammatory rhetoric from the left. Republican Vice President JD Vance emerged as the most prominent defender of this approach. In multiple public appearances, Vance dismissed the bipartisan outrage as “pearl clutching.” On October 14, he posted a screen grab on X of 2022 text messages from Jay Jones, a Democratic candidate in Virginia, who had suggested “two bullets to the head” for a prominent Republican. “This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote, adding, “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
Vance doubled down the next day on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” arguing that “a person seriously wishing for political violence and political assassination is 1,000 times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids say in a group chat, however offensive it might be.” He went on to reflect on his own youth, saying, “Most of what I, the stupid things that I did as a teenager and as a young adult, they’re not on the internet.” Vance, a father of three, advised his children to be cautious online: “If you put something in a group chat, assume that some scumbag is going to leak it in an effort to try to cause you harm or cause your family harm.” He concluded, “I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive, stupid joke is cause to ruin their lives.”
That stance stood in stark contrast to the position of many Republicans who called for immediate consequences. Rep. Elise Stefanik, despite being targeted by Democrats for her alleged ties to chat members, condemned the messages and called for those involved in the New York State Young Republicans to step down. At the same time, she labeled Politico’s report a “hit piece” and accused Governor Hochul of hypocrisy for supporting a democratic socialist candidate in New York City. Stefanik’s dual response reflected the tightrope many Republicans walked: denouncing the offensive language while resisting what they saw as partisan attacks.
The scandal also had tangible consequences for several Young Republican leaders. According to Politico, Luke Mosiman, former chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, was no longer employed by the Center for Arizona Policy as of October 15. Annie Kaykaty, national committeewoman for the New York State Young Republicans, lost her job at a Brooklyn private school. Four other chat participants had either left their jobs or had offers rescinded after Politico began its investigation. In New York, the reverberations were especially intense, given the number of chat members with ties to the state’s GOP officials. Democratic Rep. Josh Riley and candidate Chris Gallant used the scandal to attack their Republican opponents, highlighting their associations with chat participants—even as those Republicans publicly condemned the messages.
Democrats, for their part, pressed for institutional consequences. On October 15, California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, urging an investigation into what he called “the definition of conduct that can create a hostile and discriminatory environment that violates civil rights laws.” New York Governor Hochul called for the removal of those involved from party roles and campaign positions, declaring, “There needs to be consequences. This bulls—- has to stop.”
The episode has become a defining flashpoint in the 2025 midterms, with both parties seeking to leverage the scandal to their advantage. As the political world watches for further fallout, the Young Republican group chat saga stands as a stark reminder of the perils—and the power—of digital communication in modern politics.
