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Hundreds of young women in floral sundresses and cowboy boots are line-dancing on the floor of a ballroom in a Dallas convention center. The bows and barrettes in their hair bob as they clap, stomp, twirl, and shimmy to the Christian hip-hop song “Church Clap” by KB featuring Lecrae. The many young mothers in the audience bounce their newborns on their hips and mouth the lyrics. “Do liberals do this?” asks the woman seated next to me, a flaxen-haired accountant from Kansas City dressed in Jackie Kennedy tweed. I have to concede that usually they do not, unless copious amounts of alcohol and/or ketamine are involved. I hate how much I’m enjoying this. I also hate how much I want a pair of bedazzled white cowboy boots.

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This is my introduction to the Young Women’s Leadership Summit, an annual conference for young women who are involved in Turning Point USA, the Charlie Kirk–founded student conservative group. Now in its tenth year, the summit attracts thousands of women from across the country, most of whom are in their teens and early 20s. They lined up for selfies in front of a mirror printed with the slogan, “You look stunning, now go out there and save America”; shoveled down açai bowls at the concessions booth; and chatted about guys they hoped to see at the upcoming co-ed Student Action Summit in Tampa. They roamed the halls wearing buttons that said “Dump Your Socialist Boyfriend,” “My Favorite Season Is the Fall of Feminism,” and “I don’t need a degree to succeed.” The vibe of the entire weekend was like a sorority mixer, albeit with fewer kamikazes and more references to the Book of Ruth.

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“Let’s just be honest: It’s never been hotter to be a conservative,” Alex Clark, host of the popular wellness podcast Culture Apothecary, said in her opening remarks. “The left, they’ve got Tiktok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks, and a ring light. We’ve got girls who look like they just walked off the cover of Vogue and can deadlift more than Harry Sisson,” the leftist TikToker. The crowd erupted into peals of laughter and applause.

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