Young Republicans demand leaders involved in "vile" racist chat resign

Racist language allegedly used by leaders of Young Republican groups in leaked chats drew widespread condemnation from both sides of the political aisle Tuesday and prompted the national youth organization to demand the resignations of those involved.The big picture: Young Republican leaders exchanged over seven months more than 28,000 offensive messages with racist, sexist, antisemitic, violent language and praise for Hitler in chats on Telegram, Politico reported Tuesday. The Young Republican National Federation said on X it's "appalled by the vile and inexcusable language revealed" in the report. "Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents," it added."Those involved must immediately resign from all positions within their state and local Young Republican organizations. We must hold ourselves to the highest standards of integrity, respect, and professionalism."The latest: New York State Assemblymember Mike Reilly fired Peter Giunta as his chief of staff after he was accused of posting offensive messages in the chat including one saying "I love Hitler" and writing in a June message when he was the N.Y. state Young Republicans' chair "everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber," per Staten Island outlet Silive.com.Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) called on state Sen. Samuel Douglass to resign after he was named as being involved in one of the chats.Zoom in: The chat allegedly included jokes about enslavement, disparaging comments about Jews, women, Black people and other minorities and discussions on raping enemies and "driving them to suicide," per Politico.Leaders involved in the chats spanned several state chapters, including Arizona, New York, Kansas and Vermont, Politico reported.Giunta is also alleged to have responded to someone who said they "dated this very obese Indian woman for a period of time" with the comment that the woman "was not Indian."Douglass allegedly weighed in, saying: "She just didn't bathe often."What they're saying: While several members declined to comment or placed blame on how the messages were obtained or altered, others apologized for the chats, including Giunta."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," Giunta told Politico. "While I take complete responsibility, I have had no way of verifying their accuracy and am deeply concerned that the message logs in question may have been deceptively doctored."Bobby Walker, the current leader of the New York State Young Republicans, apologized but told Politico he thinks portions of texts "may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated" and that the "private exchanges were obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm."Zoom out: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was among those to condemn the group chat, with a senior adviser telling politico she's "absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments made by leaders of the New York State Young Republicans and other state YRs in a large national group chat."Scott said in a statement the group chat's "hateful" comments were "disgusting and unacceptable."He added: "The vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue that has been reported is deeply disturbing. There is simply no excuse for it. Those involved should resign from their roles immediately and leave the Republican party — including Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass."New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said at a Tuesday briefing that she found the reported group chat so "vile it's hard to find the words to put into context."However, Vice President JD Vance moved to criticize Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones, who's apologized for texts he sent in 2022 that spoke of saving "two bullets" for a Republican rival, saying what he said was "far worse than anything said in a college group chat."Vance added: "I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence."Representatives for Douglass did not immediately respond to Axios' Tuesday night request for comment.Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and further context.

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