Politics has always been a messy business, but what happened in the leaked young republican chat recently feels like a whole different beast. It wasn't just a few "edgy" jokes or heated debates about policy. We’re talking about 2,900 pages of raw, unfiltered Telegram messages that pulled the curtain back on some of the GOP’s rising stars.
The fallout was massive. And honestly, it’s still rippling through state capitals.
Basically, a group chat titled "RESTORE YR WAR ROOM" became public in October 2025 after Politico got their hands on it. This wasn't some random basement-dweller forum; it was a digital huddle for leaders from Young Republican chapters in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont. These were people with real titles and real jobs in government offices.
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The Reality of the "Restore YR War Room"
You’ve probably seen the headlines about the slurs. They’re everywhere. But when you actually look at the volume—over 28,000 exchanges—the sheer persistence of the rhetoric is what hits the hardest. It wasn't one bad afternoon. It was months of documented conversation from January to August 2025.
The chat was originally set up by Peter Giunta, who was the former chair of the New York State Young Republicans. His goal? He wanted to rally support to lead the national Young Republican federation.
Instead, the logs showed a "blur of slurs and violent fantasies," as Politico put it. We saw participants joking about rape and praising Adolf Hitler. At one point, Giunta reportedly wrote "I love Hitler" after a discussion about findng the most right-wing candidates. When you’re an adult in your 30s—like Giunta and several other participants were—claiming you're just a "kid" doing "stupid things" doesn't really fly with the public.
The People Involved
- Peter Giunta: Fired as chief of staff for New York Assemblyman Michael Reilly.
- Bobby Walker: The man who briefly replaced Giunta as New York State Young Republicans chair. He later apologized, saying the language was "wrong and hurtful."
- William Hendrix: The vice chair of the Kansas Young Republicans. He lost his job with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach after it came out he used the N-word dozens of times in the chat.
- Samuel Douglass: A Vermont State Senator who eventually resigned after the leak exposed his participation.
It’s wild how fast things can crumble. One day you’re a rising star in the party, and the next, your boss is issuing a press release saying you’ve been "totally excluded."
Why This Specific Leak Hit Different
Usually, when a political scandal breaks, there’s a predictable cycle of "he-said, she-said." But this leaked young republican chat was different because it came with receipts. 2,900 pages of them.
The messages weren't just about hating the other side of the aisle. They were often focused on internal power struggles. Giunta himself claimed the leak was part of a "highly-coordinated year-long character assassination" by a rival group, the New York Young Republican Club led by Gavin Wax.
Whether or not it was a "hit piece," the words were still there.
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There’s this weird tension in Gen Z and Millennial conservative circles right now. You’ve got the mainstream "establishment" types trying to keep things professional, and then you’ve got this "edgy" faction that thinks being "anti-woke" means using every slur in the book to prove how "un-PC" they are. In this chat, that line didn't just blur—it vanished.
The Fallout Across the States
In Kansas, the state's Young Republican organization was essentially deactivated immediately. The New York GOP executive board voted unanimously to suspend the New York State Young Republicans chapter entirely. Think about that: a whole wing of a state party, gone because of a Telegram chat.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the messages "vile" and said these people are supposed to be the "future of the Republican Party." Meanwhile, on the national stage, figures like JD Vance took a different approach. On The Charlie Kirk Show, Vance downplayed it, suggesting that "kids do stupid things" and comparing the leak to a different controversy involving a Democratic candidate in Virginia.
What Most People Get Wrong
People tend to think these leaks are about "oops, I used a bad word."
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It’s bigger than that. It’s about the culture of vetting. If these individuals were working for Attorneys General and State Senators, how did their private views stay hidden for so long?
Honestly, it shows how encrypted apps like Telegram and Signal have changed the game. People feel safe. They think "end-to-end encryption" means "consequence-free." But as Michael Bartels—a senior adviser at the U.S. Small Business Administration who was in the chat—found out, all it takes is one person with a screenshot or a change of heart to end a career.
Where Does the GOP Go From Here?
The leaked young republican chat isn't something the party can just ignore. It has forced a reckoning about who gets to represent the "next generation" of conservatism.
If you're following this story, the next steps aren't just about watching who gets fired. It's about watching the reorganization. The "Restore YR" faction is largely dismantled, but the vacuum they left behind is already being filled by other groups.
Actionable Insights for the Future
- Vetting is changing: Expect political campaigns to start demanding access to private social media or using more intense background checks for "digital footprints."
- Encrypted isn't "Private": If you are in any professional capacity, your "private" group chats are only as secure as the least loyal person in the group.
- The "Edgy" Rebrand: Watch for a shift in how young conservative groups message themselves. After the backlash, many are moving away from the "war room" style of rhetoric to avoid being associated with the New York and Kansas scandals.
The dust hasn't fully settled on the leaked young republican chat yet. With more pages of the logs still circulating in certain journalist circles, there might be more names to drop. For now, it serves as a massive warning: in 2026, the "private" world is smaller than you think.
Check the official statements from the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) to see how they are restructuring their state chapters after the October suspensions. Monitoring the upcoming state-level conventions in New York and Kansas will reveal if the party successfully distances itself from this faction or if the same rhetoric simply moves to a new platform.