Politics

EXCLUSIVE: There’s A New America First Org On The Block, And It Wants To Make GOP Less Dusty

(Screenshot/Fox News)

A new Republican group plans to recruit America First candidates who resonate with young voters to replace old-guard GOP lawmakers, the group’s leaders told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday.

American Ascent, a 501 (c)(4) that launched Monday, aims to eliminate geriatric leadership by recruiting, training and backing America First conservative candidates to replace older incumbents in 2028 and defend the American way of life. American Ascent President Ryan Neuhaus told the DCNF that the organization intends to back anti-war candidates who put the U.S. before foreign interests, noting that young people are struggling with the cost of living and with affording their own homes in comparison to Baby Boomers and Generation X.

“The decision to go to war with Iran was political malpractice,” Neuhaus told the DCNF. “I think that for too long, we’ve had our sights set on foreign adventurism and we’ve really neglected to take into account the needs of the domestic populace. And really, what the American people are telling us [is] they want a restoration of the American dream, a stabilization of the economy, hope for the future, the ability to have children, a place they can send their kids to school where they feel safe and protected and actually learn something valuable that they can translate into a career later. I think young people are tired of seeing us make promises and then not keep them, and not going back to the Middle East and engaging in endless wars is a promise that was broken, and the American people responded, particularly young people.”

The organization will “scout out those who have the potential to lead” and enroll them in a leadership training program called the “Fellowship for American Ascent,” according to Politico. Neuhaus said American Ascent will build relationships between voters and candidates who are “young, capable and competent.”

The organization intends to recruit candidates who want to defend and preserve the American way of life, according to its website.

“Our inheritance does not belong to the elites who wish to destroy it. Everything good in America’s history, everything that continues to make our country great today, and every chance we have to secure an even greater future, flows from the American way of life. Therefore, we believe that American statesmen owe it the utmost allegiance, over party, over personality, and over any other private interest. Our fight, then, is to defeat the forces arrayed against it.”

The group is partnering with allies of Vice President JD Vance, including Turning Point Action, as well as the Claremont Institute and the watchdog group Oversight Project, Politico reported. The group has obtained data to held guide it in its attempt to elect House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates in 2028, based on candidate age, whether they planned to seek reelection, fundraising history and other factors, according to Politico.

Young men voted for Democrats by a 17-point margin after supporting Trump in 2024. A Harvard Youth Poll found that young voters expected to be worse off financially than their parents for the first time in the poll’s history. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would be worse off, while 25% expected to be better off.

Democrats replaced several incumbents past retirement age with younger candidates in the primaries, while old-guard Republican incumbents won their primaries or held onto their seats.

Neuhaus said the old-guard incumbents ignore the concerns of young Americans while passing legislation that hurts them.

“[Elites] say ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps, work harder, without recognizing that for decades now they’ve been replacing American workers with either automated machines or a foreign populace on visas, and they exploit that system at the detriment of the American people,” Neuhaus said.

The American Ascent president said young people still support the promises made during Trump’s 2024 campaign, including populist economics and putting American interests first.

“Young voters are inclined to support the 2024 agenda, one that has populist economics, it’s nationalist in nature, it’s done with the foreign adventurism, it puts the interests of the American people first from a quality of life standpoint, one that is faithful and religious, it recognizes who its Creator is and wants to uphold His laws in society,” Neuhaus told the DCNF.

“I think part of the problem that happened in the midterms is we departed from the agenda, and I think that’s what young people want,” Neuhaus continued. “And they’re not seeing that being given to them, so they’re frustrated.”

A Harvard Youth Poll found that young voters expected to be worse off financially than their parents for the first time in the poll’s history. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would be worse off, while 25% expected to be better off.

The typical median age for a first-time home buyer in the U.S. is 40 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors. It takes the average borrower about 20 years to pay off their student loan debt, according to the Education Data Initiative.

Generation Z had the lowest levels of support for the Iran war among all generations surveyed by Navigator Research. Only 30% of Gen Z supported the war, while 44% of Baby Boomers and 55% of the Silent Generation supported Trump’s military actions.

Neuhaus said politicians such as Vice President J.D. Vance, Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill and Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee were among the current politicians who he felt represented young people and the America First agenda best.

Jackson Hines, the organization’s vice president, told the DCNF that the affordability crisis is disproportionately impacting young people, prompting them to vote for socialists. He argued they were not convinced that the 2026 midterm elections candidates were willing to fight for them.

“As proven by the 2024 election, and now the 2026 elections, the cost-of-living crisis is only a ‘debate’ for the Boomer and Gen X crowd,” Hines said. “For young Americans, the affordability crisis is their reality. It is a reality that forces them to live with their longtime girlfriend or boyfriend, who also works a full-time job, in a two-bedroom apartment that they rent in a city neither of them wants to live in, until they are financially comfortable enough to think about having a child at the age of 43.”

“While Neo Cons wonder why these people become radical socialists, American Ascent believes it is imperative that we dissuade voters from reaching for the thorny branch of communism, and instead reach for the olive branch of Republican populism,” Hines continued.

Hines argued that young people want to support candidates with populist values and strong principles, naming Gill as an example. Gill is 32 years old and was first elected to Congress in November 2024 at the age of 30.

“President Trump has proven that a populist Republican is the most politically sought-after candidate that can be placed on a ballot. The issue that the party faced in 2026 was that there was not enough evidence that Republican leadership in Congress was willing to take on the quintessential fight in our country for Republican populism over Democratic socialism, as they ignored the calls of POTUS to make massive reforms to our government through legislative action,” Hines continued. “The only thing neoconservatives care to ‘conserve’ is their right to block the leader of the free world’s mandate by scapegoating with phony ‘process.’ The young people in our country are looking for fighters to champion massive reforms for their benefit.”

Of the 434 members-elect of the next Congress whose ages are on file, 168 will be 62 or older on Election Day in 2028 and 49 will be 75 years or older, according to data compiled by American Ascent. In the Senate, 22 will be older than 62 and ten will be older than 75.

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2022, meaning he would be 101 years old at the end of his next potential term if he decides to run.

Republican incumbents held onto most of their seats in the House in the 2026 primary season, while Democrats replaced older incumbents with a new generation. Republican Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers, a 79-year-old incumbent who has served in Congress since 1981, won his primary in May against four challengers.

Republican Alabama Reps. Robert Aderholt and Republican Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers won their primaries. Aderholt is 61 years old and was first elected in 1996, while Rogers is 68 and has been in Congress since 2003.

Republican North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx is 83 years old and chairs the Rules Committee. Foxx trailed Democratic North Carolina congressional candidate Chuck Hubbard by less than one point as of Monday with 99% of the vote recorded.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar, 71, lost to 34-year-old Democratic Michigan Rep.-elect Donavan McKinney 51.1% to 48.1% in the Aug. 4 primary. Democratic Colorado Rep.-elect Melat Kiros, 29, defeated 69-year-old Democratic Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette in the June 30 primary, ending DeGette’s 30-year tenure in Congress.

Outgoing Republican Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, missed 78 out of 231 total votes in 2026. He was hospitalized in June after suffering from a fall and remained absent for three months. His staff remained silent on his whereabouts and conditions throughout his absence.

McConnell announced in February that he would not run for reelection. Recent footage showed him expressionless and silent while a reporter asked for his response to the midterm elections.