1. United States
2. Mont.
3. Letter

I am writing to express serious concern about Governor Gianforte's February 4, 2026 event at the Montana State Capitol promoting Club America, the high school affiliate of Turning Point USA, and State Superintendent Susie Hedalen's subsequent letters urging school districts to support these chapters. While students have the right to form clubs reflecting their beliefs, state officials should not be using their positions to actively recruit for a specific partisan organization. Governor Gianforte's stated goal of establishing Club America chapters in every single Montana high school, combined with Superintendent Hedalen sending official letters to districts, crosses the line from protecting student speech to state-sponsored political organizing. Club America is explicitly the high school arm of Turning Point USA, a conservative activist organization founded by Charlie Kirk. According to Turning Point's own vice president of field operations Andrew Sypher, the organization initially focused on college campus activism before expanding to high schools and rebranding as Club America in 2024. This is political infrastructure building, not neutral civic education. Montana has approximately 200 high schools, and the Governor is leveraging state resources and his official platform to expand chapters beyond the current 20 schools. The February 4th event featured Erika Kirk, CEO of Turning Point and wife of Charlie Kirk, demonstrating the direct organizational connection. This represents a troubling precedent where state government actively promotes one political organization's presence in schools. Schools should remain spaces where students can explore diverse viewpoints without state officials pressuring administrators to support specific partisan groups. If the Governor held a similar event promoting chapters of any other politically affiliated organization, the inappropriate nature of this government involvement would be equally clear. I urge you to publicly oppose state-sponsored promotion of partisan organizations in Montana schools and to support policies ensuring government officials do not use their positions to recruit students into specific political movements.