Indiana Gov. Mike Braun called on schools and universities “to take all necessary steps” to facilitate student organizations like Turning Point USA during a Thursday event co-hosted with TPUSA.
Braun said organizations like TPUSA foster free speech and the values of liberty.
“I commend the work of Turning Point USA’s Club America and other organizations dedicated to fostering an appreciation for American exceptionalism, the importance of constitutional rights, and standing for freedom,” Braun said.
It’s the latest move in an increasingly entwined relationship between Indiana politicians and TPUSA. The organization is a conservative nonprofit with thousands of college chapters aiming to inform and organize students about free market and limited government. In October, Braun spoke at a TPUSA event with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the IU Auditorium in lieu of the assassinated TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Braun’s announcement came after U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana’s 9th District posted on Facebook in January the state was partnering with TPUSA to “establish chapters in every high school and college.” Braun did not use that specific language in his statement.
On Tuesday, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales announced his office was establishing a voter registration and poll worker recruitment partnership with TPUSA’s Club America to encourage voter registration in high schools.
When student leaders at Valparaiso University, a private college in Indiana, rejected an effort to re-establish a TPUSA chapter in February, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith condemned the decision in a X post. The university told the IndyStar the student senate would reconsider the application.
The Indiana University chapter of TPUSA saw membership double after Kirk’s assassination, then-Interim Chapter President Jack Henning told the IDS last year.
Indiana State Sen. Shelli Yoder, a Democrat representing Bloomington, responded to Braun’s announcement saying it should alarm every Hoosier.
“Students in Indiana already have the freedom to form clubs, speak their minds, register to vote and participate in civic life,” Yoder said in a statement Thursday. “The question is not whether students can participate. The question is whether the State of Indiana should be putting its thumb on the scale for one outside ideological agenda.”
Yoder characterized TPUSA as “a political operation with a defined ideological mission” and said Braun was giving special treatment and political favoritism.
She called into question the logistics of the partnership, asking if schools will be pressured to participate and if public resources would be used to expand the organization’s reach.
“Real free speech does not require the governor to play favorites,” Yoder said.
