HOUSTON — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will speak Wednesday evening at an event with Houston-area high school students who he says were harassed for starting a chapter of the conservative group Turning Point USA.
The event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the La Scala Ballroom inside The Moran Hotel at CITYCENTRE and is open to the public.
Paxton’s office said students at Stratford High School in Spring Branch ISD faced online targeting after forming a Club America chapter, the organization’s high school arm.
Screenshots of private conversations were shared on social media, along with the names of potential sponsors. A “radical activist” allegedly encouraged the public to pressure the school and those sponsors not to back the group, according to Paxton.
“The far-left tried to silence these patriotic young Texans, but we will never surrender. In honor of Charlie, we will be bolder and more courageous than ever,” Paxton said in a statement.
“Getting involved in the battle for the future of this country has never been more important, and it’s an honor to join these brave students as they do just that.”
Turning Point USA, founded in 2012, is a national conservative youth organization that promotes free markets and limited government. Its presence on college campuses has been a flashpoint in political debates, and in recent years it has expanded into high schools through chapters such as Club America.
The Houston controversy comes less than two weeks after the assassination of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, whose death has drawn sharp and emotional responses across the political spectrum.
