For many young conservatives, Charlie Kirk was a political first love. In the rising conservative star’s public events at college campuses—where he cheerily entertained questions, sometimes hostile ones, from audience members of all political persuasions—they saw a hopeful rejoinder to the rancor of campus politics and to political isolation.
The Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk at just such an event in Utah is not deterring them, but rather galvanizing a generation to continue in his footsteps, some told The Epoch Times.
“To watch him go into the hornets’ nest and hold his ground and be bold in what he believed in, it was just incredibly inspiring—not only to me, but I can guarantee it was for thousands of people my age,” said Tyler Boyles, 23, chairman of the Utah Federation of College Republicans.
“A viral clip of him was one of the coolest things ever,” Boyles said. “It’s kind of hard to put into words. I’m getting a little emotional about it.”
For Boyles and others like him, Kirk was a foundational influence on high school and especially college campuses, which tend to lean left and where conservatives are often an obvious minority.
Some became politically active in a junior high school debate class, others during COVID, organizing to oppose vaccine and mask mandates on campus. Kirk modeled a kind of confidence and conviction that seemed within reach.
“When you’re our age and you’re in school and there’s a lot of left-wing indoctrination,” Boyles said, “Kirk was the bright spot. He was the guy who could take any left-wing viewpoint and flip it upside down.”
Now, said Boyles, the infrastructure of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, has helped young Republicans grow their ranks. The Utah Federation has grown to six chapters, and has more than 500 members.
“Just the infrastructure that Charlie was able to establish was incredibly impressive,” said Kai Schwemmer, 22, a junior at Brigham Young University. “When I think back, I can’t really remember a time without Turning Point being mentioned, and I don’t anticipate that to change in the future.”
Motivating young people at such a scale, he said, is something very few others have been able to do. “Charlie is extraordinary in that regard.”
Riley Beesley, 20, was volunteering for Turning Point, standing nearby, when Kirk was shot.
“It’s devastating to be there to witness it, and to see it happen in our beautiful state of Utah. … These things don’t happen here often,” he said, recalling horror and fear on people’s faces as the realization set in.
“It’s just emboldened me to double down our efforts on campus,” Boyles said. “If we’re tabling once a week, let’s table four times a week. Let’s get out there and do it for him.”
He added that a lot of young conservatives in leadership positions in Utah are of the same mind. “We’re emboldened, we’re ready to roll. … For a guy who just comes to college campuses and engages in discourse, especially, a guy who is genuine and has an ability to light up a room—it definitely gets you fired up.”
Beesley said he plans to channel his anger, sadness, and frustrations into a vision Kirk left behind.
“We have to push harder, knock more doors, register more voters, be bold with our message on campus. And we need to fight, fight, fight,” he said.
For young conservatives building public personas and engaging in the kind of civil discourse Kirk modeled, the specter of political violence is suddenly tangible.
Immediately after the news reached him, Schwemmer hopped online to do a livestream video, interviewing students who had been at the scene to piece together the story. The next day, he was invited to speak at a vigil for Kirk.
“Of course, I’m in my typical routine and say yes, absolutely. I’d be honored to be there. And then I got a message from a personal friend who said, ‘Be safe out there.’”
Prior to that comment, he said, “I had not even made the connection—it had not struck me that this is literally the kind of venue where Kirk died. That’s what he was doing when he died. It hit me like a truck.”
To be deterred now, he said, to cower, “would be to basically betray the memory of Charlie Kirk and betray everything that happened.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Kai Schwemmer’s name. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
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