Turning Point USA appoints Charlie Kirk’s widow as his successor
Turning Point USA, the organization founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, announced Thursday that Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, was unanimously elected to succeed her husband as CEO and chair of Turning Point’s board of directors.
“Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests,” four board members wrote in a statement posted to social media. “And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.”
In a social media post, the organization said that Charlie Kirk “expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death.”
Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder.
Kirk founded the organization in 2012 to encourage conservative politics in high schools and universities and over the next 13 years turned it into a major force in the conservative movement. Kirk was a close ally of President Donald Trump, who memorialized Kirk by saying on social media, “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
Charlie and Erika Kirk began dating in 2019 and were married in 2021. The couple had two children together.
Erika Kirk, a former Miss Arizona USA and founder of a Christian street wear fashion line, became involved in Turning Point during their relationship and occasionally spoke at events hosted by the group, such as its 10th annual Young Women’s Leadership Summit in June, where she and her husband garnered attention for encouraging the girls and young women in attendance to focus on marriage and children over having a career. Erika Kirk also hosts a weekly faith podcast titled “Midweek Rise Up.”
“I’ll make Turning Point the biggest thing this nation has ever seen,” Erika Kirk said during a livestream Friday in her first public remarks since her husband’s death.