Charlie Kirk's Turning Point taps his widow as its next leader.
Questions about its future remain
[September 19, 2025]
By JILL COLVIN and JONATHAN J. COOPER
PHOENIX (AP) — Turning Point USA, the organization Charlie Kirk founded
to mobilize young, Christian conservatives, has seen a massive surge in
interest and support since the activist's assassination last week.
As conservatives mourn Kirk’s death, the group appears poised to remain
a MAGA juggernaut as it plots its future without Kirk at the helm.
The group's board announced Thursday that Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, had
been unanimously elected as its next leader and will serve as CEO and
board chair.
“This was what Charlie hoped for and wanted and he said so numerous
times," Tyler Bowyer, the group’s chief operating officer, said on
social media. “Erika is one with Charlie and Charlie is one with Erika.”
Turning Point became a multimillion-dollar operation under Charlie
Kirk's leadership, and was credited with helping to return President
Donald Trump to office. Since Kirk's killing, his podcast and social
media have attracted millions of new followers. There has been an
outpouring of interest in expanding Turning Point's footprint on college
and high school campuses, the group's spokesperson says, and future
large-scale events are continuing as planned.
“It will grow,” said Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet, who is
also a producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast. “What we’re seeing
is that Charlie’s legacy will be much greater, broader, and bigger than
we even realized in life.”
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week that through “this
horrible act,” Turning Point “could be maybe bigger than it could have
ever been had he been there.”
“And I will say this: He’d be very happy if he saw what was going on,”
Trump said.
Inquiries about new Turning Point chapters have soared
Both Turning Point and Kirk’s other ventures have received unprecedented
interest since he was killed.
Kirk's podcast is now the top show on Apple, his social media accounts
have gained millions of followers and his clips have garnered millions
of views.
Turning Point has also received over 60,000 inquiries to start new
campus chapters, Kolvet said Thursday. The group currently has 3,500
chapters on college campuses and in high schools across the nation.
Aubree Hudson, president of the Turning Point chapter at Brigham Young
University that helped organize the Utah Valley University event where
Kirk was assassinated, said hundreds of students have reached out about
getting involved.
“That’s the beautiful part of this tragedy, that his movement, Turning
Point, is exploding," she said.
She predicted conservatives who have been afraid to share their views at
school will start speaking up.
“How it looks like without Charlie Kirk, I think we’re all gonna try to
figure that out,” she said. “It’s gonna be a curve, but I don’t think
it’s gonna slow us down in any way.”
A fundraising behemoth
Turning Point USA is not just a campus advocacy group promoting
conservative causes. It and its affiliated group, Turning Point Action,
played a crucial role in the 2024 election, helping to turn out voters
who don't typically cast ballots in swing states including Arizona,
Michigan and Wisconsin.
It is also a fundraising behemoth.
The group's two primary nonprofit arms collectively took in nearly $100
million in 2024, according to forms filed with the IRS. A separate
nonprofit wing called the Turning Point Endowment has another $60.9
million in the bank.
Kirk's widow and the mother of their two children, Erika Kirk, has vowed
to continue the group's mission. She said during an emotional broadcast
from her husband's studio that a planned campus tour this fall would go
on, as would the podcast and one of the group's marquee events —
“America Fest” — planned for December.
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Vice President JD Vance, right, Second Lady Usha Vance, center, and
Erika Kirk, holding a cross on a chain, deplane Air Force Two,
carrying the body of Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning
Point USA who was shot and killed, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in
Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
She said during her remarks that “the movement my husband built will not
die.”
“I promise I’ll make Turning Point USA the biggest thing that this
nation has ever seen,” she said.
Erika Kirk steps into a new role
Since its founding, Charlie Kirk has been the operation's public face
and crucial to its influence. He was a MAGA celebrity with a loyal
following, who grew the operation in large part, through the force of
his own personality and rhetorical skill as he traveled the country,
speaking and hosting events.
Erika Kirk has a following in her own right. The entrepreneur and
podcaster often appeared with her husband at Turning Point events. The
former 2012 Miss Arizona USA has also worked as a model, actress and
casting director, according to a biography on her website. She founded a
Christian clothing line, Proclaim, and a ministry that teaches about the
Bible.
Alex Kolodin, a Republican state legislator in Arizona who is closely
aligned with the group, said he’s confident Kirk’s widow will hold the
movement together.
“She’s not going to let anybody break apart her husband’s legacy,”
Kolodin said.
He said Turning Point wouldn’t be what it is today without Kirk’s
“genius,” but said that Kirk had inspired a generation of young
conservatives who are social-media savvy and know how to engage their
generation. Kolodin predicted some of them will rise to the moment and
ensure Kirk’s death doesn’t leave a void in the online spaces where
young people congregate.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the next big thing in that direction was a
couple of guys that nobody ever heard of,” Kolodin said. “That’s
actually a reason that I’m optimistic for the future of it.”
Also playing a leading role in carrying Kirk's torch is Vice President
JD Vance, a friend, who transported Kirk's casket from Utah back to
Arizona aboard Air Force Two.
On Monday, Vance guest hosted Kirk's radio show, spending two hours
interviewing senior administration officials and sharing stories about
the impact of a man he credited for his current position.
He called on Kirk’s followers to “get involved," saying “we have to make
sure that the next generation of young people feels confident and
courageous to speak their mind and to speak the truth.”
Others brush off the idea that anyone could take Kirk’s mantle.
“There’s a lot of discussion about who will ‘replace’ Charlie Kirk. The
answer is that nobody will,” conservative podcaster Matt Walsh wrote on
X before Thursday’s announcement. “There won’t be a new Charlie, any
more than there was a new Rush Limbaugh. These men are irreplaceable.
One of a kind. All we can do is continue the fight in our own way. Which
we will. But there will never be another Charlie Kirk.”
___
Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Sejal Govindarao
contributed to this report.
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