Updated September 10, 2025 at 8:26 PM CDT
Charlie Kirk was barely old enough to vote when, at the age of 18, he launched Turning Point USA. The goal: build an organization for young conservatives that would represent for them what groups like MoveOn.org meant for progressives.
"This was in the midst of the Obama presidency in the suburbs of Chicago where Obama was very well liked," Kirk recalled on his podcast last year. "In my local high school, progressive, left-wing Marxist ideas were widespread, and I looked around and I was unimpressed by the conservative organizations that were out there."
More than a decade later, Kirk not only met that goal, but he became perhaps the most influential voice in young conservatism, playing a crucial role in national politics, including President Trump's 2024 victory.
He died on Wednesday at the age of 31, after being shot while hosting an event in Orem, Utah. His death was announced by Trump, who praised Kirk's political impact.
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie," Trump wrote in a post on social media. "He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!"
After starting Turning Point, Kirk in many ways became the face of the young MAGA movement — creating a space that acts as a counterweight to the liberal politics that largely dominate on college campuses across the country. Turning Point USA now boasts more than 800 college chapters and an online following in the millions, including Kirk's accounts. The organization has also launched several connected nonprofits and has reported an annual revenue of roughly $100 million in 2024.
"Charlie literally died for what he believed in. It's the concept that founded this country. The movement he started has only just begun," said Joe Mitchell, 28, the former president and founder of the group Run Gen Z, which helps young conservative leaders run for public office. Mitchell himself is now running for Congress, and credits Kirk for supporting his political work since 2019.
A free speech advocate who roiled the left
Kirk preached free speech, free markets and limited government, often while launching broadsides at the politics of the left.
"The basic things our parents enjoyed are increasingly out of reach for Gen Z and Millennials. You see, the American dream has become a luxury item for the wealthy elite," he said at last year's Republican National Convention. "Happy countries have children. Broken countries have addiction, depression, and suffering. Democrats have given hundreds of billions of dollars to illegals and foreign nations, while Gen Z has to pinch pennies just so that they can never own a home, never marry, and work until they die, childless."
To his critics, Kirk was often a magnet for controversy for the far-right personalities and ideas for which he provided a megaphone — whether at his events, on his social media accounts or his popular podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show. Guests have included a slavery apologist, as well as a pastor who believes women should not have the right to vote. Kirk himself spread falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, vaccines, transgender people and demographic change.
At the time of his death, Kirk had just kicked off a multi-state college tour and was slated to go to more than a dozen colleges and universities around the country in the coming weeks.
He was shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University, holding the same type of event he first became known for: sitting behind a table debating students on various issues.
Kirk, Trump and the 2024 election
In recent years, Kirk took on a greater role in GOP organizing. During the 2024 election, Turning Point's advocacy wing, Turning Point Action, helped with the Trump campaign's on-the-ground organizing work.
Despite its roots in the youth space, Turning Point Action has a larger stated focus, targeting new voters of all ages. During the campaign, the group announced it was expanding its mobilizing efforts in key swing states like Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, and pledged to raise more than $100 million. That said, ahead of Election Day, the group told NPR it had only raised "tens of millions."
While it is hard to measure Turning Point's direct impact on the 2024 presidential race, Kirk was quick to highlight Trump's gains among young Americans last fall, compared to previous years. Notably, the campaign made a more direct effort to court young voters on nontraditional media platforms.
"The impact he had on young people — reaching them in masses, giving them courage to stand up, to think for themselves, and to fight for freedom — is immeasurable," said Donald Trump Jr. in a post on social media. "There is no question that Charlie's work and his voice helped my father win the presidency. He changed the direction of this nation."
"The goal was, of course, to lose by less," said Kirk, who spoke with NPR the morning after the election was called for Trump. "But in the last couple of weeks, we were whispering to each other that there might be something bigger."
To Kirk, who is survived by his wife and two children, Trump was able to speak to the concerns that young Americans have about their future.
"They just want to live in the same country as their parents. I don't know if that's a social issue or an economic issue," he said. "They want a nice life, and they feel it slipping away."
Copyright 2025 NPR
