Turning Point USA has expanded rapidly after former Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said there would be chapters at every high school in the state, and groups are growing across the South as well.
Turning Point USA calls the high school chapters "Club America."
"It's been crazy," Mason Cottrell, TPUSA's southern regional director, told Fox News Digital.
Cottrell said that Oklahoma has had the most "Club America" chapters in a school year so far. Oklahoma usually has around 15 at the end of each school year, and now they have at least 60.
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"It's gone up significantly. And we're starting chapters, at least a couple, every single day," he said.
Cottrell went on to say, "So we've seen huge growth. And I think we're going to, I mean, we still have dozens that we're actively working on new people reaching out to us every day. So, it's only going to continue to get bigger."
Oklahoma has started three to seven chapters a day since Walters made the announcement on September 23, Cottrell said. The growth of "Club America" chapters is not solely due to Walters' mandate.
"I think just being a conservative state and people are, maybe, a little more brave to speak out. I don't think that it was all Ryan Walters, right? I think his mandate helped, and we definitely saw a jump and shift, and we're continuing to see that. But we also have the people here that are really willing and ready to kind of take that next step," Cottrell said.
Walters pledged to have a TPUSA presence in every high school to honor the group’s co-founder, Charlie Kirk.
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"I’m excited to announce today that every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter," Walters said in a video on his X account.
He later explained that it wasn't a mandate but rather because students were leading the charge to do so. Oklahoma is a deeply red state, going to President Donald Trump by huge margins in all three of his runs for the White House.
Kirk's assassination on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University pushed TPUSA into its greatest prominence yet. Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, was named CEO and chair of the board of TPUSA, which operates 900 college chapters and about 1,200 high school chapters.
After Kirk's massive memorial service on Sept. 13, TPUSA announced that it has received more than 120,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters.
"Club America" chapters ideally host a meeting twice a month for conservative students to express their values and ideas. The chapters host activities based on themes that could entail patriotism, sports, taxes or other topics. For instance, "Club America" chapters hosted "Free Speech Week" and "United We Stand" for the week of September 11.
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The clubs set up tables on their high school's campus to promote TPUSA and typically bring in conservative speakers once a semester.
Cottrell oversees Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, Arkansas, west Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and the panhandle of Florida.
"We've seen a big boost. Alabama and Mississippi specifically are really, really growing. And I think that's because if you look at Oklahoma, they're very similar to Oklahoma in their makeup. And then west Tennessee has seen a big increase as well," he added.
"Club America" chapters have faced challenges in blue cities, according to Cottrell. Some reports led Florida officials to threaten legal action against any high schools that blocks TPUSA efforts on their campus. However, there were no reports substantiated by Florida officials to Fox News Digital.
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"We do get push back from some schools," he said.
"We've had some in Oklahoma, even, but at the end of the day, they have to accept them as a club on campus because, you know, the law kind of requires it. So we face some of that, but we have processes and ways to kind of combat that and help the students get what they want, which is to be recognized and be a club on campus," he added.
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