On the Ballot: One year after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Turning Point USA presses on

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is navigating its first election cycle without its founder.  

Thursday marks one year since Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Utah university during one of his “Prove Me Wrong” debates. His wife, Erika Kirk, took the reins of conservative nonprofit after his death, charting its course as the leading youth organization in Republican politics.  

TPUSA says it has only grown since Kirk’s death, yet Republicans acknowledge Charlie Kirk’s death has left a void few in the party can fill.  

“He wanted people who felt lost to know the everlasting hope he found through faith and the sense of meaning and purpose that can fill the deeper longings we so often try to satisfy elsewhere,” Erika Kirk wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times published on Monday.  

“To the world, he was Charlie Kirk,” she wrote. “But to me, he was the love of my life. To our children, he was the center of their world.” 

Turning Point USA is convening in Orem, Utah at Utah Valley University on Thursday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death, after a gunman fatally shot the conservative activist at the school during his “The American Comeback Tour.”  

Thursday’s event, called “Freedom Built to Last,” will include guest appearances from figures like conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Christian apologist and Charlie Kirk mentor Frank Turek, among others.  

Republicans are also planning to honor Charlie Kirk on Thursday evening, during the second day of their midterm convention in Dallas, which looks to touch on the TPUSA founder’s “impact on American youth and converting that legacy into a call to mobilize voters.” 

Started in 2012, TPUSA is regarded as one of the most dominant youth-focused conservative organizations in the country, with its founder making a name for himself as he traveled to college campuses to debate students and push back against liberal talking points. 

But the political nonprofit morphed into a serious power player in recent election cycles as a part of Republicans’ voter outreach infrastructure, so much so that President Trump and Vice President Vance have credited Kirk and his organization for their electoral victories.  

“I want to express my tremendous gratitude to Charlie Kirk,” Trump said........

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