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Turning Point Action
U.S. right-wing campaign group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Turning Point Action (TPAction) is an American 501(c)(4) organization that exists to embolden the conservative base through grassroots activism and provide voters with the necessary resources to elect true conservative leaders. It was founded in 2019 by Charlie Kirk as the sister organization and political advocacy arm of the 501(c)(3) Turning Point USA.
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Leading up to the 2024 election, TPAction launched "Chase the vote" - the largest and most effective ballot chasing operation in the country. It focused on deploying thousands of field organizers in key states to engage with voters through relationship-driven strategies to help elect President Donald J. Trump.
TPAction has hosted many rallies across the country, featuring prominent figures such as President Donald J. Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard and more.
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In May 2019, it was reported that Kirk was "preparing to unveil" Turning Point Action, a 501(c)(4) entity allowed to campaign against Democrats.[1] While the group claims to be a "completely separate organization" from Turning Point USA, Forbes noted that both were founded by Kirk and use common marketing and branding styles.[2]
In July 2019, TPAction acquired leasing rights to web domains and social media platforms of Students for Trump, a youth group founded in 2015 at Campbell University in North Carolina by John Lambert and Ryan Fournier.[3][4][5] The Washington Post reported in 2023 that Students for Trump was separating from Turning Point Action after branding/revenue disputes.[5]
In 2024, the Trump campaign partnered with Turning Point Action and other conservative groups to help execute a ground game strategy in key swing states Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. TPAction's "Chase the Vote" initiate was a new untested campaign tactic directly using outside organizations to lead canvassing efforts to turn out "low propensity right-wing voters" (people who had a high chance to vote for Trump but a low chance to actually cast a ballot). Chase the Vote's strategy was an answer to substantial Republican loses in the 2022 mid-term elections which was believed to be in part due to Democrats having an edge with early voting. Due to this, embracing early voting instead of trying to reboot the voting habits of Republicans in a single voting cycle was a main element of this strategy. Post election data from Arizona suggests that the strategy succeeded[6][7]
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Turning Point Action is a 501c(4) non-profit organization which allows for participation in partisan political campaigns and elections.[8] TPAction has campaigned for and hosted political rallies for many conservative politicians ranging from local offices all the way up to presidential candidates. Many prominent politicians are featured speakers/guests at TPAction activism conferences. During the 2024 Presidential election, TPAction executed the largest and most effective ballot chasing operation in the country entitled "Chase the vote".[9]
2020 presidential election
In October 2020, Facebook permanently banned Arizona based marketing firm Rally Forge for running what some experts likened to a domestic “troll farm” on behalf of Turning Point Action. A month prior the Washington Post reported in a published article that young people in Arizona, some of them minors, were posting Turning Point content on their social media accounts without disclosing their affiliation with Turning Point. The report from Washington Post prompted an investigation by Facebook which ultimately concluded in the removal of 200 accounts and 55 pages on Facebook, as well as 76 Instagram accounts. Twitter responded to the newspaper's questions by suspending at least 262 accounts for their involvement in "platform manipulation and spam. Facebook and Twitter did not penalize Turning Point because they could not ascertain if Turning Point leadership was aware of the actions being carried out on their behalf by Rally Forge.[10][11] Turning Point Action did issue a statement saying they wanted to work with Facebook “to rectify any misunderstanding” about their content.[12] "Austin Smith, a field director for Turning Point, told The Washington Post: "This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia."[13] Jake Hoffman, CEO of Rally Forge that joined Turning Point for the project, said that "dozens of young people have been excited to share their beliefs on social media" and were "using their own personal profiles and sharing their content that reflects their values and beliefs."[14][15]
On January 4, 2021, Kirk announced in a tweet that Turning Point Action would be sending more than 80 buses to a January 6, 2021, Trump "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House in Washington, D.C, to protest the outcome of the election.[16][17] They sent seven buses with approximately 350 participants.[16] Turning Point Action also funneled money to several "Stop the Steal" rally speakers, including Kimberly Guilfoyle, but did not organize or take part in the march to the Capitol that erupted in violence.[18][19] Kirk later deleted the tweet[20] and said on his podcast that it was "bad judgment" and "not wise" to enter the Capitol but not necessarily insurrectionist.[21] A Turning Point Action spokesman later said the group condemns political violence.[17]
COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
In 2021, Kirk compared Biden's vaccination efforts to an "Apartheid-style open air hostage situation".[22][23][24] Text messages sent by Turning Point Action using Twilio automatically enrolled donors under a recurring monthly plan. Kirk's spokesperson said they are not anti-vaxx, reiterating that "the vaccine makes logical sense for millions of Americans" but they should "have the freedom to choose", and Kirk was advocating against vaccine mandates and passports for healthy young people. The same spokesperson said the text messages from Turning Point Action were not approved by Kirk and that the automatic contribution function was added by a vendor.[22]
2024 presidential election
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TPAction hosted a conference in July 2023 called "ACTCON",[25] it was hosted in West Palm Beach and drew roughly around 6,000 attendees.[26] It had several guest speakers including the event headliner Donald Trump and keynote speaker Tucker Carlson. According to the New York Times, the two day event drew roughly a third of the Republican presidential field as speakers.[27] [28]
On July 26, 2024, while addressing the crowd during Turning Point Action’s Believers’ Summit in West Palm Beach, Donald Trump told his supporters: "Christians, get out and vote, just this time! You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."[29][30]
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For the 2024 presidential campaign Turning Point Action launched a "chase the vote" program that saw 1,000 people hired for voter outreach with a focus on younger voters as well as low-propensity Republican voters in all key battleground states, including Arizona, Wisconsin, partially in Michigan and Pennsylvania.[31][32][33] Voter turnout operations are typically run by national and state Republican parties or candidates' own campaigns, but in 2024 a Federal Election Commission decision allowed campaigns to coordinate canvassing with outside groups. For Turning Point, that has meant hiring staffers, developing a canvassing app and staffing tables at both on- and off-campus events.[34] In Wisconsin, TPAction combined their canvassing efforts with those of America PAC.[35]
Before the 2024 election TPAction brought Moms for America into their "Chase the Vote" alliance. The partnerships goal was to have Moms for America help promote events as well as a new app focused on get out the vote tactics (GOTV). The app provided data with insights to key targets to "chase" during the election cycle.[36]
During the 2024 presidential election, Brian Hughes, a senior advisor on the Trump campaign called TPAction's field program a "force multiplier" which allowed for more efficient deployment of campaign and RNC assets in key battleground states.[37]
"You're being brainwashed" tour
Prior to the 2024 presidential election Charlie Kirk visited around 25 college campuses labeled as the "You're being brainwashed" tour, trying to stir up more Gen-Z voter turnout by where he would engage/debate with students on many different relevant topics. According to Turning Point Action the tour produced around two billion viral views on social media.[38] The tour has been praised as having a "critical role" in helping Donald Trump get elected.[39]
2025 Arizona Governor rally
In May 2025, TPAction put on a rally for Congressman Rep. Andy Briggs to aid in his bid for Governor of Arizona. Thousands of people attended the rally (many were sporting MAGA hats and T-shirts), which was held in a ballroom of the Arizona Biltmore Resort. Many other Republican lawmakers made appearances to show support including Rep. Burgess Owens (Utah), Rep. Eli Crane (Arizona), Rep. Paul Gosar (Arizona), Lauren Boebert (Colorado) and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida). Before Briggs took the stage to speak Charlie Kirk opened up with a few words encouraging all that were listening to remember that the very first Trump rally was held in Phoenix back in 2015.[40]
Resignation of Austin Smith
In April 2024, Arizona state representative Austin Smith who was an "election integrity warrior" and the TPAction National Field Administrative Director resigned his TPAction position and quit his state reelection race after he was accused of forging voter signatures on documents he filed for his reelection run.[41][42]
Tyler Bowyer indicted in Arizona fake electors plot
On April 24, 2024, TPAction COO Tyler Bowyer was indicted on 9 charges in connection with the 2020 Arizona fake electors plot.[43] On May 21, 2024, Bowyer and 10 of his 17 co-defendants pled not guilty after being arraigned in Maricopa County Superior Court.[44] Bowyer was among five people who made their not guilty plea virtually rather than in-person.[45]
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