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HEBRON, Connecticut – The president of Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) chapter at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) says his decision to run for the state’s 8th House district reflects his call “for young people and students, especially, to get out and vote” and play an active role in their community.
William Gifford, 21, told The Connecticut Centinal Wednesday evening that he was inspired to run for state office after experiencing significant obstruction from UCONN over TPUSA’s recent “Pick Up the Mic” event held at the school.
“The situation that we have at UCONN is absolutely ridiculous,” the conservative leader said at a candidates forum sponsored by the Hebron Republican Town Committee. “They say constantly that they're nonpartisan. They say they don't care about what type of organization we are, but it is evident that they have constant problems with us, but don't have constant problems with every other organization.”
As The Waterbury Times reported in April, the TPUSA outdoor program that had been initially planned was halted, reportedly due to what student organizers were told were “safety concerns.”
A tentative approval of the group’s switch to an indoor format, however, also seemed doubtful when school officials raised additional concerns about the set-up and seating of individuals at TPUSA’s table.
“It remains unclear what specific factors led to the final decision to halt or alter the event, and whether university officials formally intervened,” the Times reported, adding that the issues are characteristic of the “ongoing tensions on college campuses surrounding event approvals, safety protocols, and the balance between student organization rights and administrative oversight.”
“Despite all the stuff that happened,” Gifford said, “we held the largest “Pick Up the Mic” tour event in the country, with over 300 students attending outside and 100 students attending inside.”
While happy about the eventual success of the event, the Republican leader said that, in addition to the bureaucratic obstacles, he has experienced continual death threats.
“We get death threats constantly, and I walk around campus now, and sometimes I'm fearing for my life, because students straight up will like chase me, or just follow me, and be like, ‘he's from Turning Point, he's from Turning Point,’” he shared.
TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk was shot dead in September during an event at a Utah campus.
Gifford noted as well that hundreds of his group’s posters – paid for by the organizers’ own personal funds – have been stolen throughout the campus.
Still, the conservative activist said he wants “to represent the young generation as a young student who's still in college and plans on getting his degree, even while being in office, while still getting my degree in office.”
“I want to represent the people that actually are, you know, contributing and are coming up in age, so we have all of these students that are supposedly accounted for, and who can vote, and yet we have Democrats who are literally bussing them from the UCONN campus, registering them to vote the same day,” he said.
The 8th House district includes Coventry, Columbia, Lebanon, and parts of Bolton and Tolland.
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