A cluster of young women paint pastel pink sunsets and sip rosé from clear cups as Alicia Keys hums in the background. “I only date tech bros,” one says, to a general buzz of approval, while another makes a case for Monkey Bar over Don Angie, two New York restaurants with impossible waitlists. At first glance, it’s a standard girls’ night in Manhattan, a Tuesday evening spent reviving a well-intended hobby—like painting, until your eyes land on the portraits of Donald Trump, the “Nixon’s the One” sign, and a memorial for Charlie Kirk, pinned neatly beside a glaring stag’s head.
It’s a “Paint and Sip” social at The New York Young Republican Club, a storied institution established in 1911 and a long-functioning refuge for conservatives seeking community in the city. With its around 1,950 members, the NYYRC is proof that conservatism is back in a big way in the US, and that its young champions can be urban-dwelling, chic, even brazen individuals. Yet in blue cities like New York, many still prefer to keep their politics under wraps, even as Trump’s second term has shifted their views closer to the cultural mainstream.
“We want to give people a space to be political, but also not be political,” says Alexis Winters.
Tonight is girls’ night, and by 8 p.m., roughly 40 women ranging from their early twenties to late thirties have taken their seats, paintbrushes loaded and drinks in hand. “Women want to have a space where they can relax and be themselves,” says Alexis Winters, the 25-year-old corresponding secretary of the club. “Whenever you’re around men, you naturally are trying to get their attention.”
Stowed away up three flights of stairs and tucked above a hair salon in Chelsea, the club is inconspicuous from the outside. Inside, the brick walls are plastered with patriotic memorabilia, black leather sofas are flanked by side tables with crosses and candles, and the mini fridge is stocked with cold High Noons. “We want to give people a space to be political, but also not be political,” Winters adds. “You’re not worried about that cloud over the situation where it’s like, if I accidentally say something that makes me sound too right-leaning, is she gonna then ask me how I feel about politics?”