Why Many Young People in Texas Are Turning Conservative
At the Texas Youth Summit 2024, Texas Insider reporter Relentless Bill Robinson asked millennials, Gen Zers, and even Gen Alphas why they aligned more with conservative values.
Many youths under 30 are reportedly more conservative than their parents, according to the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) published by Pew Research in July. As young voters have historically held liberal views and voted Democrat, the recent numbers were considered significant to experts as the presidential election is approaching soon.
The Texas Youth Summit 2024, an annual conference of young conservatives in the Lone Star State, took place at the Woodlands Marriott in late September. Notable speakers included Donald Trump Jr., North Korean survivor Yeonmi Park, athlete and activist Riley Gaines, congressmen and congresswomen, and many leading conservative leaders across the nation.
During the two-day event, young attendees and activists, some with their parents, told The Texas Insider reasons why they believed in conservative values.
Economy and Education Among ‘Top Issues’ for the Texas Youths
“It’s very hard for some of my generation to buy a house someday, to start a family, to buy a car,” said Caleb Holmes, a young aspiring entrepreneur from Houston.
Caleb Holmes (Marina Fatina/ Sept. 21, 2024)
He said he’s not confident to start his own business because of inflation and rising costs. As a believer in free enterprise and capitalism, Holmes disagrees with price regulation policies that Vice President Harris proposed during her presidential race.
Many students said they were concerned for their future. Homeschooled student Ash from Sugarland said their parents had grown up in a “much different world” from the one today.
“How much money I’m gonna have to pay for a house or a car, that’s really important to me,” said Ash, who was also grateful to her parents for homeschooling her and giving her the freedom to choose what she wanted to pursue.
Candidate for Texas House Rep. District 76 Lea Simmons (Marina Fatina/ Sept. 21, 2024)
To Lea Simmons who’s running represent the Texas House District 76, education is one of her primary issues.
“The vouchers are a problem right now – all the children that don’t have enough good grades,” said Simmons. She believes that school choice could provide more educational access to parents and students.
Vice chairman of the Harris County High School Republicans, Evan Archer, education and the public school system are also his top concerns as a conservative youth. He said that social media was the main driving force behind the liberal-leaning trend of the young generation.
The Role of Spirituality in How Youths View Abortion
Addison Cahal said that she used to hold liberal views regarding abortion, gender, and sexuality.
“When I became a Christian three years ago or four years ago, that really inspired my desire to change the world,” said Cahal about her decision to lead the Harris County High School Republicans as the chairwoman.
Evan Archer (left), and Addison Cahal (right) from the Harris County High School Republicans (Marina Fatina/ Sept. 21, 2024)
Guided by her Christian values, she wanted to “make a difference in the conservative movement with the youth.”
“It’s important that we understand why we believe something, and that we’re not just kind of mindlessly in the rat race,” said Stormy from Conroe. She said her Christian faith has been the foundation of her beliefs and compassion toward others, especially regarding abortion.
Stormy from Conroe, Texas (Marina Fatina/ Sept. 21, 2024)
She continued to say, “I would love to support anyone else going through any issues in their life, issues with abortion, issues with sexual assault, anything like that. We just are called to be there for them, to support them.”
Young attendee Jacob said that while he believed that abortion shouldn’t be legal, it was important to “focus on fostering a monogamous kind of lifestyle” and “the underlying issues as to why people get abortions.”
A Conservative Movement Among Texas Youths
According to the organization’s website, the Texas Youth Summit was founded in 2019 by Christian Collins. Its mission is to ” identify, educate, and train students to promote principles of fiscal responsibility, free market, limited government, American Exceptionalism, and the Judeo-Christian principles this country was founded upon.”
Groups like the Texas Youth Summit, Young Conservatives of Texas, and Texas Young Republicans represent a trend of young people turning to conservative and Republican values.
According to a Tufts Circle analysis in 2020, almost 50% of young people voted in the presidential election. While polls have shown that more than half of young voters support Vice President Harris, there has reportedly been a notable increase of young conservative voters.
As the 2024 election approaches, young voters continue to prove their impact on election results as one of the main “deciding factors.”
Relentless Bill Robinson contributed to this report.
As a Houstonian, I report on crtitical news and inspiring stories from the state of Texas. Before joining The Texas Insider, I worked at NTD Television as a news reporter and wrote for different publications.
