Walker To Address Conservative Youth Organization In Florida

Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to speak at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday afternoon.

Turning Point USA is a youth organization that touts fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government.

Other speakers at the event include Donald Trump Jr., former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, and Fox News commentators Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro.

His remarks will follow those of James O’Keefe, a conservative activist known for posting edited videos targeting executives of the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now and National Public Radio.

Walker’s participation in the event comes a little more than a month after the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Student Government Association rejected Turning Point USA’s request to become an official student organization on campus. That decision was ultimately reversed by the university’s Vice Chancellor Al Thompson.

At a press event in Appleton Monday afternoon, Walker said his Florida trip is in response to an invitation.

“There are folks from Wisconsin that asked me to go,” Walker said. “A lot of college students from the UW system and elsewhere are a part of that group and asked us to come.”

Walker said he doesn’t know how many students from the University of Wisconsin or other state schools will be in attendance at the Summit.

“I’ve met a number of students. I don’t know what the numbers are but they’re active on University of Wisconsin campuses and other campuses,” said Walker.

In terms of what he plans to address, Walker said he’d talk about things he’s touted before.

“I’m going to talk about things I’ve talked about before, about what the state of Wisconsin is doing and how proud we are of it,” he said, adding that his aim is to reach out to conservative students from the Badger state.

“We appreciate the number of college students that are there,” he said. “We’re part of any number of groups on campuses across the state.”

In a Nov. 27 press release from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, DPW Chair Martha Laning stated:

“Instead of addressing Wisconsin’s needs, Walker is raising money and rallying Tea Party crowds, sharing events with white supremacists, advocates of political violence, fake-news conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists. Walker should be honest about his role at these national events because it is a far cry from the act he puts on in his carefully orchestrated, invitation-only Wisconsin appearances.”

The characterization of the group being aligned with white supremacy is one the state’s Republican Party, and Walker, deny.

Editor’s note: This story incorrectly listed Walker as the only elected-official to speak at the Summit, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Florida, is also slated to appear.