The New York Young Republican Club held its 113th annual gala on December 13, 2025, at Cipriani Wall Street, drawing far-right figures including German Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmakers, even as the broader Young Republican movement faced backlash over leaked racist and antisemitic chats. Some promoted elected officials did not appear, and protesters gathered outside, underscoring tensions over extremism within Republican youth politics.
The New York Young Republican Club's 113th annual gala took place on Saturday, December 13, 2025, at Cipriani Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, according to the club’s event materials and promotional emails. The black-tie event featured the venue’s signature Bellini cocktail on arrival, an open bar with top-shelf liquor, hors d’oeuvres, and a multi‑course seated dinner.
The gala came roughly two months after POLITICO published an investigation into a private Telegram chat used by leaders in state Young Republican organizations, which documented racist and antisemitic language, admiration for Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, and jokes about gas chambers and mass rape. The leak prompted widespread condemnation from within the Republican Party and the suspension of the New York State Young Republicans chapter by the state party, as well as job losses and political fallout for several individuals named in the chats, including at least one Vermont state lawmaker, according to coverage in POLITICO, the Washington Post and the Guardian.
This year’s gala was headlined by German lawmaker Markus Frohnmaier, the foreign policy spokesperson and a deputy leader of the far‑right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Reuters reported that Frohnmaier used his speech to call for a nationalist alliance between American and German "patriots" and framed such cooperation as a challenge to what he described as liberal elites. German and U.S. media have noted that the event was attended by around 20 AfD officials from federal, state and European legislatures, reflecting increasingly close ties between the New York Young Republican Club and Germany’s AfD.
The New York Young Republican Club has previously courted controversy over its embrace of AfD figures. Reuters reported that a singer who performed the U.S. national anthem at the gala had earlier delivered the taboo first stanza of Germany’s national anthem — the version favored by the Nazi regime — at an October reception the club hosted for AfD members.
The club’s own announcements listed U.S. Representatives Mike Collins of Georgia and Andy Ogles of Tennessee, as well as conservative media personalities Benny Johnson and Jack Posobiec, among the billed speakers or honored guests for the 113th gala. Promotional emails also advertised several New York City council members and other Republican officials as honored guests. However, some of those promoted officials did not ultimately attend the gala. According to public statements and social‑media posts reported by POLITICO and other outlets, at least one New York City council member later distanced herself from events that welcome extremist figures and condemned antisemitic rhetoric in conservative circles.
Outside Cipriani Wall Street, demonstrators gathered to protest the club’s ties to far‑right and extremist movements, including the AfD, according to contemporaneous local and national news accounts. Democratic elected officials joined the protests, citing the leaked Young Republican chats and the use of racial slurs such as describing Black people as "watermelon people," language documented in the POLITICO investigation and summarized by the Guardian.
Inside the ballroom, attendees sat for a multi‑course dinner featuring pasta and meat dishes in keeping with the venue’s past gala menus. Reuters described the tone of the evening’s speeches as staunchly nationalist and anti‑immigration. Frohnmaier, speaking for the AfD delegation, urged deeper coordination between U.S. and European right‑wing movements and portrayed their cooperation as essential to "reclaim" Western culture and nations.
The gala took place against a broader backdrop of controversy over antisemitism, racism and extremism within segments of the Republican youth movement. The leaked chats led national Young Republican leaders and multiple state parties to denounce the rhetoric and, in some cases, cut ties with or suspend chapters. Critics inside and outside the party have pointed to the New York Young Republican Club’s high‑profile embrace of AfD politicians at its gala as a sign that, despite the backlash, parts of the movement remain open to alignment with far‑right forces at home and abroad.
The club, for its part, has continued to promote the gala as a celebration of "love of country" and a showcase for influential conservative speakers, emphasizing its long history as what it calls the oldest and largest Young Republican organization in the United States. The club has also highlighted its role in building relationships with Republican officeholders and international allies, even as those alliances have drawn intensified scrutiny from mainstream Republicans and opponents alike.
