Lead: In early March 2026, leaked WhatsApp logs revealed that a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) contained sustained racist, antisemitic, sexist and homophobic messages. The chat, created after the September 2025 killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, included more than 400 uses of the N-word and calls for extreme violence, prompting local Republican leaders to demand resignations and removal proceedings. Miami-Dade Republican officials and state senators publicly condemned participants and asked party bodies to act. The revelations coincided with a push by some Florida lawmakers to rename a one-mile stretch of road beside FIU in honor of Kirk, intensifying scrutiny.
Key takeaways
- Leaked WhatsApp logs published in early March 2026 show FIU College Republicans members using racist, antisemitic, homophobic and ableist language; the N-word appears more than 400 times in the records.
- Abel Alexander Carvajal, Miami-Dade Republican Party secretary and an FIU law student, created the chat but told reporters he had not seen the most offensive messages until contacted; investigators say he deleted 14 other participants’ messages and 42 of his own before the logs were obtained.
- William Bejerano is identified as the most frequent user of the N-word and is recorded calling for violent acts including crucifixion and beheading of Black people.
- Dariel Gonzalez, the group’s recruitment chair, repeatedly used the term “colored” and wrote, according to the leak, “Avoid the coloreds like the plague.” Gonzalez also described an imagined “Agartha” as “Nazi heaven sort of.”
- Ian Valdes, Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, renamed the chat to reference “Agartha” and used derogatory language about Jewish people; one participant invoked sexualized anti-Jewish rhetoric while saying he would not marry a Jewish person.
- Kevin Cooper, Miami-Dade GOP chair, Juan Porras, a Republican state representative, and state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez all demanded resignations or expulsions from leadership roles after the leak.
- The story amplifies a pattern of leaked conservative youth group chats in recent years, including a large 2025 Politico leak and a 2022 Young Republicans controversy in North Dakota.
Background
Campus political groups have long been a flashpoint for broader cultural battles; in recent years, leaks of private chats among young conservatives have repeatedly revealed extreme and discriminatory rhetoric that created national headlines and damaged local party reputations. Florida International University, based in Miami-Dade County, hosts a politically active student body and several youth chapters of national conservative organizations such as Turning Point USA. The chat in question was reportedly started after Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was killed in September 2025 — an event that prompted notable reaction across the conservative movement.
Locally, the Miami-Dade Republican Party is a key apparatus in Florida politics; its officers often hold or seek municipal appointments. Abel Alexander Carvajal was serving as Miami-Dade GOP secretary and recently held a two-year appointment on the Hialeah planning and zoning board. At the same time state Republicans were advancing a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in Kirk’s honor, the leaked chat intensified questions about leadership vetting and the message sent to voters by party affiliates and campus chapters.
Main event
Miami Herald reporting — summarized and analyzed in subsequent coverage — published logs showing that within three weeks of its founding the FIU College Republicans chat degenerated into frequent use of slurs and endorsements of violence. The Herald’s records attribute the creation of the chat to Carvajal and identify William Bejerano as prolific in posting the most extreme content. Bejerano’s messages, according to the leak, included multiple calls for physical mutilation and execution framed against Black people.
Other named participants used derogatory descriptors and slurs. Dariel Gonzalez, the recruitment chair at the time, used the term “colored” repeatedly, including the line “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” which spread widely in coverage. Several messages targeted Jewish people with demeaning sexualized language and discouraged marriage or procreation; one participant reportedly wrote, “You can fuck all the [K-word] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.” To reduce harm in reporting, this article uses bracketed labels for certain slurs where appropriate while preserving the nature and severity of the language.
Carvajal confirmed creating the chat but denied prior knowledge of the most offensive content when reporters first contacted him. He told the Herald he would have removed and blocked users had he seen the messages at the time. The Herald also reported that Carvajal deleted 14 messages sent by others and 42 of his own before the logs were recovered, and that he sometimes participated in racist exchanges using pejorative coinages aimed at Black students.
After the Herald’s publication, local Republican leaders moved rapidly. Kevin Cooper said the party board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation and began formal removal proceedings. State senators and other Miami-Dade GOP members issued statements condemning the chat and calling for immediate action to expel or remove those involved from leadership roles.
Analysis & implications
The episode presents both an organizational and political liability for Republican institutions in Miami-Dade and statewide. For local party officials, a credentialed officer implicated in racist chat activity undermines recruitment and voter trust, particularly in a county with a large and diverse electorate. Municipal appointments linked to party roles — such as Carvajal’s Hialeah planning board seat — may come under renewed scrutiny, and officials who opposed swift discipline risk political blowback.
At the state level, the leak complicates messaging as Florida Republicans pursue symbolic measures like the proposed road renaming for Charlie Kirk. Lawmakers who back such measures while condemning bigotry face a test: reconcile punitive action against individuals named in the chat with broader party unity and the optics of defending campus activism. Several state senators explicitly framed expulsion requests as necessary to uphold party standards, signaling institutional willingness to discipline.
More broadly, the pattern of leaked youth-group messages raises questions about vetting, oversight and cultural norms within campus conservative circles. Repeated incidents across years — including the 2025 Politico leak of a national conservative student chat and the 2022 Young Republicans controversy in North Dakota — suggest that preventive training, clearer codes of conduct and stronger oversight mechanisms are likely to be debated within party structures and campus groups.
Legal exposure is limited unless chat content includes direct threats or criminal admissions; however, reputational damage can have immediate consequences for careers and public appointments. Universities and local governments may examine whether participants violated student conduct policies or municipal ethics rules, while political parties can move more quickly with internal discipline.
Comparison & data
| Year | Incident | Platform | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | FIU College Republicans | Racist, antisemitic, violent slurs (400+ uses of N-word) | |
| 2025 | National conservative student chat | Group messages (reported) | Racist and antisemitic comments (Politico report) |
| 2022 | Young Republicans (North Dakota) | Group chat | Homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric (media reports) |
These incidents show a recurring pattern in which private or semi-private student chats have produced public scandals. While platforms and membership vary, the common outcome has been rapid reputational harm, internal party investigations, and calls for resignations or removals. The FIU case stands out for the volume of slurs documented and its collision with contemporaneous political activity in Florida.
Reactions & quotes
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida.”
Kevin Cooper, Miami-Dade GOP chair (statement)
Cooper framed the board’s action as an institutional response aimed at restoring trust. His statement underlined the internal party process to remove officers implicated in conduct damaging to the party’s reputation.
“Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida.”
Juan Porras, Florida state representative and Miami‑Dade GOP committee member (statement)
Porras emphasized accountability for office-holders and requested Carvajal step down from his party post, linking the conduct to broader electoral trust concerns.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican Party of Florida. We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership.”
Senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez (joint statement)
The joint statement from three state senators signaled bipartisan-aligned pressure within the state GOP for swift disciplinary action and distancing from the named participants.
Unconfirmed
- Whether Carvajal viewed the most offensive messages in real time remains contested; he said he first saw them when contacted by reporters, but the Herald reports deletions and participation that complicate that claim.
- It is not yet confirmed whether the Florida bill to rename the road alongside FIU for Charlie Kirk will pass or how much the chat controversy will affect that legislative effort.
- The full membership list of the chat and whether additional participants beyond those named will face disciplinary action has not been publicly released.
Bottom line
The FIU College Republicans chat leak is a high-profile example of how private digital spaces can produce public crises, especially when content includes repeated racial and religious denigration and calls for violence. For local party organizations and university leadership, the incident raises immediate questions about vetting and oversight of student political actors and of party officers who hold municipal influence.
Looking ahead, expect internal party proceedings, potential university inquiries, and broader debates within the Republican apparatus over discipline and culture. The recurring pattern of leaked chats suggests the party and campus chapters will confront sustained pressure to adopt clearer behavioral standards, improved monitoring and expedited disciplinary procedures to prevent similar reputational damage.