Officials in the New York Republican Party on Friday voted to suspend the state Young Republicans chapter following a Politico report that detailed racist and antisemitic messages sent between a group of young Republican leaders across the country.
In a statement following the New York state GOP’s decision, party chair Ed Cox said that the New York State Young Republicans were “already grossly mismanaged” and that the “vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations.”
NBC News has not independently verified the contents of the group text thread, but Politico reported that the messages in the chat included racial slurs about Black and Latino people, praise for Adolf Hitler and jokes about sending political opponents to gas chambers.
NBC News reached out to the New York State Young Republicans for comment.
Three members of the New York State Young Republicans were identified in the Politico report as being involved in the chat — the group’s chair, Peter Giunta; the group’s vice chair, Bobby Walker; and Joe Maligno, who was once identified as the group’s general counsel.
In a statement to Politico, Walker apologized for his comments, saying, “There is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me. The language is wrong and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize,” and also said he believes that some of the messages “may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated.”
Giunta also apologized, telling Politico, “I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive and inexcusable language found within the more than 28,000 messages of a private group chat that I created during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans,” and joined Walker in alleging that some of the messages may have been “deceptively doctored.”
Maligno has not publicly commented on the story.
In his remarks, Giunta also accused another New York GOP group for young people — the New York Young Republican Club — of leaking the messages.
The NYRC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Giunta’s claim. The group earlier this week clarified that it has never been affiliated with the state Young Republicans organization and that the two groups are entirely separate.
Cox’s statement noted that several high-profile elected Republicans from New York had already condemned the findings of the Politico report, including members of the New York Republican congressional delegation.
“The deeply offensive and hateful comments reportedly made in a private chat among members of the New York State Young Republicans are disgusting. They should resign from any leadership position immediately and reflect on how far they have strayed from basic human respect and decency,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., condemned the group chat contents in the original Politico report. The congresswoman later wrote in a post on X that “elected Republicans rightfully condemned the alleged vile statements and delivered accountability in the YR organization (mind you, these were not even candidates for elected office outside of internally in a young professional political organization).”
New York Republicans are at least the second statewide Republican group to disband its Young Republicans chapter. Earlier this week, Kansas’ Republican Party confirmed that its chapter had been disbanded after two leaders of its Young Republicans group were quoted in the Politico report as allegedly using racial slurs and praising Hitler.
Kansas Young Republicans Chair Alex Dwyer declined to comment to Politico. William Hendrix, the group’s vice chair, did not respond to requests for comment from Politico. Both were named in the Politico story.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance has come to the defense of the Young Republicans leaders whose group chat was exposed, saying in an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” on Wednesday that the “reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys.”
“They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do,” Vance added. “And 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. And at some point we’re all going to have to say enough of this BS, we’re not going to allow the worst moment in a 21-year-old’s group chat to ruin a kid’s life for the rest of time. That’s just not OK.”
With their election victory in 2024, President Donald Trump and Vance made significant gains among young people, particularly young men.
In 2024, Trump’s share of support from men ages 18-29 rose by 8 percentage points from 2020, according to NBC News exit polls.
