The conservative movement has lost one of its brightest lights with the murder of Charlie Kirk. For many of us, he was not just a figure on a stage or a voice on a podcast. He was a mentor, a leader, and a friend. His life’s work, Turning Point USA, transformed the American conservative landscape, creating a youth-driven force that the left can no longer ignore. His brilliant and brave strategy of good old-fashioned face-to-face debates on university campuses, calmly delivering facts and logic in the face of the lunacy of the modern left, exposed their ideology as devoid of humanity and reason.
Charlie’s story was always one of courage and vision. At just 18 years old in 2012 he founded Turning Point USA. He had no college degree, no institutional backing, and no big donors waiting in the wings. Charlie started from scratch.
His mission was simple but profound: to give young Americans the tools and the courage to fight for the principles of free markets, limited government, and American exceptionalism. Within a decade, his little start-up grew into one of the largest conservative student organizations in the country, with chapters on hundreds of campuses, events that drew national headlines, and millions of students who finally felt they had a voice. Today, TPUSA is a massive group with international reach.
TPUSA reported nearly $85 million in revenue in 2024. Yet, Charlie collected a modest salary compared to other CEOs of comparably large nonprofits. In that 2024 tax filing, he isn’t even listed as the highest paid employee. His widow once said his work was “not a career to him. It’s a calling.”
But Charlie never stopped building. He knew that reclaiming the next generation meant more than just hosting rallies and debates; it meant creating alternatives to the indoctrination pipeline of the public school system. That vision gave birth to Turning Point Academy, an ambitious project to provide parents and students with an education rooted in truth, character, and love of country. Charlie wanted children to be taught that America is worth defending, that hard work is honorable, and that faith has a place in our national story. He was relentless in making that dream a reality.
I had the privilege of experiencing Charlie’s heart for mentorship firsthand. I was invited to a Turning Point influencer retreat a few years ago. To be honest, I felt out of place. I was one of the oldest people in the room, and at the time, I had one of the smallest followings. Yet Charlie made me feel welcome, important, and needed. He trained us to use our voices boldly, but also humbly. He told us not to waste time chasing clout but to focus on speaking truth, staying grounded, and serving others.
This was something he didn’t just preach, but also practiced daily.
Charlie was also one of the first prominent conservatives to encourage me to open my own online school. When I doubted myself, he reminded me that parents and children needed exactly what I had to offer. That encouragement stuck with me, and it gave me the push to move forward. Today, my school exists in part because Charlie saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself.
That was the kind of man he was. He could build massive organizations, speak to packed stadiums, and take on the media elite, but he also took time to see individuals, to encourage them, and to invest in their growth. He was deeply loved because he poured himself into people, not just politics.
The last time I saw Charlie in person was at a recent conservative teacher conference in Tampa, FL. He walked up to the Tuttle Twins booth and, without hesitation, bought the entire table of children’s books for his two young children. That memory breaks my heart now. It was such a simple act, but it revealed who he was: a father who cared deeply about raising his kids with the same values he fought for on the national stage.
Turning Point USA will continue. Turning Point Academy will grow. But there will never be another Charlie Kirk. His legacy will not only be measured in the size of the organization he built, but in the countless lives he touched, including mine.
Rest in peace, Charlie. The movement is stronger because of you, and it is now on us to carry the torch you left behind.
