{"id":139387,"date":"2026-02-19T23:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139387\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T23:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:15:08","slug":"a-night-where-secret-new-york-city-republicans-can-be-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139387\/","title":{"rendered":"A Night Where \u201cSecret\u201d New York City Republicans Can “Be Themselves”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cluster of young women paint pastel pink sunsets and sip ros\u00e9 from clear cups as Alicia Keys hums in the background. \u201cI only date tech bros<\/a>,\u201d 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\u2019s a standard girls\u2019 night in Manhattan, a Tuesday evening spent reviving a well-intended hobby\u2014like painting, until your eyes land on the portraits of Donald Trump<\/a>, the \u201cNixon\u2019s the One\u201d sign, and a memorial for Charlie Kirk<\/a>, pinned neatly beside a glaring stag\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cPaint and Sip\u201d 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\u2019s second term<\/a> has shifted their views closer to the cultural mainstream.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give people a space to be political, but also not be political,\u201d says Alexis Winters.<\/p>\n

Tonight is girls\u2019 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. \u201cWomen want to have a space where they can relax and be themselves,\u201d says Alexis Winters, the 25-year-old corresponding secretary of the club. \u201cWhenever you\u2019re around men, you naturally are trying to get their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cWe want to give people a space to be political, but also not be political,\u201d Winters adds. \u201cYou\u2019re not worried about that cloud over the situation where it\u2019s like, if I accidentally say something that makes me sound too right-leaning, is she gonna then ask me how I feel about politics?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cluster of young women paint pastel pink sunsets and sip ros\u00e9 from clear cups as Alicia Keys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4370,9,24,55,54,56,87,5285,2134],"class_list":{"0":"post-139387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-gop","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-republican-party","16":"tag-republicans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}