American conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA, the country's most prominent conservative youth organisation. He was shot dead on September 10th 2025 at a college campus in Utah while debating liberals. He was 31 years old. Donald Trump called him "legendary" on social media.
Tyler Robinson was charged with the shooting. Court documents quote texts in which Mr Robinson said he "had enough of [Kirk's] hatred." His parents told authorities that he had become "more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented". Elon Musk blamed the Southern Poverty Law Center for inciting the killing by criticising Kirk in its "Hatewatch" newsletter and branding his organisation as "authoritarian". J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller blamed an "organised campaign" by progressive non-profits for the killing and promised to dismantle the organisations behind it. After the assassination some on the left celebrated, while MAGA-world launched a campaign against progressive NGOs, naming the Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation.
Kirk grew up in the Chicago suburbs, where he championed small government and the theories of Milton Friedman at his high school. Being a conservative at his uniformly liberal school was, as he put it, "an act of rebellion". As a teenager he began speaking at local Tea Party gatherings. In 2012, at the urging of a mentor he met at one such event, he dropped out of university to focus on activism.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA to "save the greatest culture and country ever to exist". He began travelling to Midwestern colleges, sitting at a card table next to a poster that read "I think government should be smaller", debating any student who approached. He was an 18-year-old who did not know how to knot a necktie, yet quickly figured out how to part Republican donors from their money by pledging to challenge the dominion of liberalism on America's campuses. By 2025 TPUSA had chapters at 850 colleges. By 2023 the combined revenue of TPUSA and its lobbying arm was $92.4m, according to the New York Times.
Kirk raised $100m to convince low-propensity voters in battleground states to vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election. A survey conducted by TikTok found that, among users under 30 who voted for Trump in 2024, Kirk was the most trusted individual on the platform. Kamala Harris won young voters by 12 points fewer than Joe Biden did in 2020—a bigger swing than for any other age group. Trump reportedly attributes this reversal to Kirk. TPUSA spent tens of millions of dollars on a get-out-the-vote campaign in the 2024 election. Kirk also helped force out the chair of the Republican National Committee, and after Trump's re-election helped vet prospective cabinet appointees.
Kirk is known for his campus "Prove me wrong" debates, in which he invites college students to challenge him on camera. Since 2018 he has travelled with a camera crew, turning the encounters into viral content with titles such as "45 Minutes of Charlie Kirk SHUTTING DOWN College Kids". A devout, pro-life evangelical, he describes the debates as "verbal combat".
Talk is cheap because supply always exceeds demand.