[2] The organization was co-founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger and Fritz S. Steiger, who sought intellectual support for his education reform ideas, including public school vouchers.

[6] Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other TPPF was initially co-founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger, a physician, businessman and conservative activist from San Antonio, Texas and Fritz S. Steiger, a businessman who had formerly worked for George H. W. Bush and Sam Walton.

[10] In January 2018, the organization announced that it had opened a new office in Washington, D.C. At the time, TPPF had more than 75 employees based in Texas; it announced plans to increase its D.C.-based staff from 5 to as many as 15 employees in 2018 in order to expand the group's work in the areas of environmental and health care policy and criminal justice reform.

[11] In February 2019, the organization hired former U.S. Representative John Hostettler, a Republican from Indiana, to lead its state-based policy efforts.

[25][26] TPPF has been described by NPR as "an influential think tank that opposes efforts to fight climate change and receives millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests.

[29] TPPF is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,[30] a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.