PROFILE | Charlie Kirk, the Activist Who Shaped a Conservative Generation and Was Murdered While Defending His Ideas

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed this September 10 by a gunshot to the neck during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, had a fundamental role within the MAGA movement and the Republican Party: fighting, in his own words, a "cultural battle" that would awaken and mobilize conservative American youth. At his young age of 31, Kirk had undoubtedly succeeded. In a matter of years, he had become possibly the most important and influential right-wing 'influencer' in the United States, recognized by all and sundry as a powerful fighter in ideological and political debates and a great electoral mobilizer.

The son of an architect and a mental health counselor, Kirk was born in 1993 in the suburbs of Chicago. From a very young age he showed interest in politics and at the age of 18 he founded Turning Point USA, an organization that soon became the most influential conservative youth platform in the country. With TPUSA at the helm, and with an impressive capacity for persuasion on college campuses, Kirk forged his identity as an organic intellectual of the American right.

With many fans and detractors, he went viral on hundreds of occasions for his debates against Democratic students and progressive activists across the country, especially in study houses or political events, always with the intention of shaping political discourse and encouraging public discussion in a time of extreme polarization in the U.S. His videos, where he advocated conservative agenda items - such as life and abortion, the politicization of public institutions, media bias, "indoctrination" in universities or the violence of radical sectors -, became viral weapons to catalyze a youthful, patriotic and deeply conservative electoral movement.

The main beneficiary of Kirk and TPUSA's effort was none other than President Donald Trump, who received their endorsement since 2016 and achieved a second presidency in 2024 thanks, in good measure, to the activist's unequivocal support. In 2024, Kirk managed to raise $100 million to mobilize young voters in key states in favor of Trump. In Arizona, the organization's official headquarters, the Republican won by nearly five points over Kamala Harris after losing that state in 2020 by a razor-thin margin.

Trump bid him farewell with a message on Truth Social: "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. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us."

Vice President JD Vance also paid tribute to him: "If you actually watch Charlie’s events—as opposed to the fake summaries—they are one of the few places with open and honest dialogue between left and right. He would answer any question and talk to everyone."

Kirk was not only an activist: he was also a writer and communicator. He published several books -Time for a Turning Point (2016), Campus Battlefield: How Conservatives Can WIN the Battle on Campus and Why It Matters (2018), The MAGA Doctrine (2020), The College Scam (2022) and Right Wing Revolution (2024) -, all focused on the defense of conservative values and the cultural battle against what he considered the progressive hegemony in American institutions. He also hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, a daily podcast and radio program, and had his own space on the TBN network. His media presence made him a constant guest on Fox News, Newsmax and other conservative media.

On a personal level, Kirk was an evangelical Christian and was married to Erika Frantzve, former Miss Arizona USA, with whom he had two young children. Hours before the tragedy, Erika shared on X (formerly Twitter) a Bible verse, "Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Kirk's legacy is reflected in the unstoppable success of TPUSA, which has affiliates at more than 1,500 high school and college campuses, more than 250,000 affiliated students and some 150 full-time employees nationwide. A legacy that transcends the organizational to become a generational brand within the American right, and that was tragically sealed the instant he was assassinated, just as he was defending his ideas in front of a university crowd. As he himself said hours before his death, after posting a photo of the young Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska, vilely stabbed to death on a North Carolina train, "America will never be the same."