What will be Charlie Kirk’s political legacy?
The famous 31-year-old conservative political activist was murdered in cold blood Wednesday while debating politics at Utah Valley University. For many, what he was doing in his final moments—what defined his all-too-brief public life—is what he will be remembered for.
“Charlie Kirk was first and foremost, a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved, and that’s why he was here on campus,” said a teary-eyed Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, at the UVU campus in Orem on Wednesday. “Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people.”
President Donald Trump, to whom Kirk was a close ally, said this in a Wednesday night address: “He was a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much—the United States of America. He fought for liberty, democracy, justice and the American people.”
Every living former president—and scores of officeholders from across the political spectrum—issued statements condemning the murder. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California who shared virtually none of Kirk’s political views, said in a statement that he “admired his passion and commitment to debate.”
Unlike most other recent targets of political assassination—from Trump himself and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman—Kirk held no political office. He had only the power of ideas and persuasion. And he was killed doing something countless people in media and politics have done: speaking on a college campus, the very place where the life of the mind is supposed to flourish. The main difference between Kirk and so many other political activists and media figures is that he had become so much more successful. He had become a political and media juggernaut.
“Rush was in the age of radio; Buckley was in the age of the print media. Charlie was in the age of digital media, social media, Tiktok, Instagram—not to mention his podcast and radio show—and that’s where he thrived and became one of the greatest voices.”
Francisco Gonzalez
But for many conservatives over the past decade, Kirk was so much more: a unifying figure, a guide into the world of politics, the familiar face of a movement, and a friend.
“This is a horrible loss for the country,” said Francisco Gonzalez, a veteran of conservative organizations. “But for so many of us, it’s a horrible loss to us personally.”
Kirk was the face of young conservatism both on campus and in the broader media landscape, and he was perhaps the most influential voice among right-leaning members of Gen Z—certainly more than any elected official besides Trump. And unlike politicians and political celebrities on TV and online who seemed distant or out of reach, Kirk rubbed elbows with his fans, arguing with their progressive peers and making those who were with him feel a part of the fun of political engagement.
“When you move around the conservative movement and you meet people, everyone’s met him,” said Nathan Brand, a young Republican strategist who, like most everyone in GOP circles these days, knew Kirk. “Everyone shook Charlie Kirk’s hand.”
Gonzalez, who worked for groups like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and National Review Institute, befriended Kirk at a conservative conference after the 2012 election, when Kirk was just 19 years old. “I was a little bit skeptical,” Gonzalez said of his initial impression of Kirk’s ambitions to create a new national student group, what would become Turning Point USA. Kirk was so young, and there seemed to be no shortage of campus conservative organizations, such as the Young America’s Foundation or ISI, where Gonzalez had served as the director of campus outreach from 2004 to 2007. But the results began to speak for themselves: A year later, Gonzalez attended his first TPUSA event where hundreds of students had gathered, “which seemed like a lot.” Today, Gonzalez sits on TPUSA’s advisory council.
The organization continued to grow, but it boomed with the rise of Donald Trump. “If it weren’t for Charlie Kirk, my dad would not be president of the United States today,” Donald Trump Jr. said at a TPUSA conference in 2018. At the time, Kirk described himself as “the luckiest 24-year-old ever to exist.” By 2024, thousands of young people were attending multiple TPUSA conferences, and the organization claims to have chapters at more than 800 college campuses; Kirk had amassed more than 5 million Twitter followers and a top-rated podcast. On the side, he was in charge of a $108 million get-out-the-vote operation to reelect Trump.
How did Kirk do it? Like William F. Buckley Jr., Gonzalez said, Kirk was ”an institution builder,” and like radio host Rush Limbaugh, “he could speak to a popular audience.”
“Rush was in the age of radio; Buckley was in the age of the print media,” Gonzalez said. “Charlie was in the age of digital media, social media, Tiktok, Instagram—not to mention his podcast and radio show—and that’s where he thrived and became one of the greatest voices.”
It’s remarkable testament to Kirk’s reach that when Newsom launched his own podcast earlier this year, Kirk was his first guest. “I love watching your TikTok, which is next level,” Newsom told Kirk on that show, adding that his 13-year-old son was excited when he heard Kirk would be a guest.
While Kirk was widely known to the general public for aligning himself closely with Trump’s agenda, Gonzalez said he played an important role within the GOP and the conservative movement by pushing back against anti-Israel sentiment on the right.
“One thing that I’m very concerned about in the young conservative movement, and that is this question of Israel. There’s a really big rise in antisemitism, and there’s a bigger rise in anti-Israel [sentiment],” he said. “This is where Charlie Kirk was needed, because Charlie Kirk was a big fan of Israel, and people need to know that.”
Gonzalez recalled a conversation with Kirk back in 2019 in which Kirk said he didn’t know what to do about alt-right antisemitic individuals known as “groypers” showing up to his conferences. “They were young, white males, disaffected. Charlie heard them, listened to them, and debated them,” Gonzalez said.
As the second Trump term began, the legion of young conservatives who descended on Washington represented a generation raised on Kirk. Ditto for many of the young conservatives who have pursued other politically linked careers, from journalism to campaign work to activism. Long after Trump has left the scene, those who learned from or were influenced by Kirk will be shaping politics, media, and culture.
“I think there’s a lot of people who are in the movement today because of him,” Brand said of Kirk’s legacy. “I think we will see members of Congress in five, 10 years who will point back and say it was a Charlie Kirk video that got me introduced to conservative politics, and that’s why I got started on this path.”
