A Year After Charlie Kirk’s Death, Where Does Turning Point Stand?

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On September 10, 2025, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot dead on a Utah college campus. 

Kirk, a 31-year-old force in the conservative movement, was a rising star in the Republican Party, largely because he mobilized young conservatives across the country through Turning Point’s high school and college chapters. 

Unfortunately, in the aftermath of his death, the organization has faced some headwinds, including “the criminal case against Kirk’s alleged killer; conservative influencers warring over his legacy; and far-right figures, led by former Turning Point employee Candace Owens, spreading baseless conspiracy theories about his death,” according to CNN. 

The outlet reports that despite all of this, the organization is flourishing, including a Nicki Minaj appearance with Charlie Kirk’s widow in December. 

CNN reports that today, a year after his death, about 1,500 colleges have Turning Point chapters on campus—up 64% over the past year— and that TPUSA-affiliated high school clubs have nearly tripled. Turning Point itself reports that it now has over one million donors and more than 1,200 employees.

And yet, without its charismatic leader, can TPUSA sustain itself? 

The heir apparent to Kirk’s fortunes appears to be his mentor and good friend, JD Vance, whom the organization has already endorsed for president in 2028.

And yet, for all of this robust growth, will TPUSA be able to make a difference in, say, this year’s midterms? 

That remains to be seen. 

A few things are working against the organization as well. Some young women are starting to chafe under the rigid expectations and traditional family values of Kirk and his Christian nationalist worldview. 

The trad wife,  whose banner widow Erika Kirk proudly bore, is starting to wear on some young women, as lamented in this Sept. 4 op-ed by Tia Levings in the Salt Lake City Tribune. Levings, author of The New York Times bestseller, A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy, was all for the “Get married” and “have babies” ethos, until that started to collide with reality. 

She writes: 

By the time I was 33, an exhausted wife and mother of four, the shine had worn off my life, too. The reality of living objectified as a tradwife in the Christian patriarchy was crushing me. I’d banked enough lived experience with those strict gender roles to see how they manifested into isolation and abuse; nothing looked like it did on paper.

“Get married” and “have kids” didn’t mean our relations were healthy or even that my children were alive — I’d been pregnant nine times in 10 years, with four miscarriages and one infant death. We’d shifted through four churches in search of ideological purity, leaving a trail of broken community behind. Reality is what softened and matured my strident views. I can’t help but wonder if Charlie Kirk had made it to 33, whether he might have evolved, too.

Clearly, she’s not the only one.

CNN reports that polls show young voters—including young women —have soured on the president.

And finally, as we know with many movements in the Black community, once the charismatic leader dies, the movement withers. JD Vance is no Charlie Kirk — in personality or charisma. 

The midterms shall be the proof of this pudding. What will young Republicans eat? 

SEE ALSO:

DOJ Investigating Protest During Turning Point USA Event

TPUSA FIU Chapter President Steps Down Amid Racist Group Chat Scandal