Turning Point’s donors and allies recommit to the group after Charlie Kirk’s death

By Fredreka Schouten, Jeff Zeleny, Arit John, CNN

(CNN) — Doug Deason, a Republican donor in Dallas, awoke Thursday to a long text chain from fellow contributors to Turning Point USA, the conservative organization Charlie Kirk led.

One person in the thread announced plans to double their contributions to the group and asked the others if they were ready to help build up the organization.

“Every one of us said, ‘Yes, I’m in,’” Deason said.

In the hours since Kirk’s death Wednesday after a shooting at a campus event, his allies have vowed to channel their grief and anger into developing a new, younger generation of conservative politicians and activists.

Fellow conservatives have said they won’t be silenced or intimidated by Kirk’s murder, part of a growing wave of political violence, including two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump and other attacks on figures in both political parties. They have argued that the best way to honor Kirk’s memory is to finish his work.

Deason, who serves on Turning Point’s advisory council and introduced Kirk to then-candidate Trump at a 2016 fundraiser, said there’s no question that the organization will carry on its mission.

“I believe in the cause. I believe in what he was doing, that we’ve got to go into campuses,” he said. “We’ve got to override these radical professors, and frankly, the media, teach the elements of free speech so we can have dialogues and debate, without violence.”

In terms of impact, Kirk and Turning Point may be best known for their role in boosting young voter turnout for the president in Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania during the 2024 presidential campaign.

But he also served as a mentor and a role model to young conservatives like Joe Mitchell, a 28-year-old congressional candidate from Iowa.

The two met six years ago when Mitchell was a young state legislator. Kirk, he said, quickly took him under his wing, providing advice and seed money to Run Gen Z, a group Mitchell founded to help young conservatives seek elected office.

Just days before Kirk was fatally shot in Utah, Mitchell kicked off his bid to succeed US Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Senate after Sen. Joni Ernst announced she wouldn’t seek reelection.

“When I announced, I was 100% committed to this race and driven to win,” he said. “But I’m even more driven now after what happened, because we have to have people in our generation that can speak up.”

Kirk’s death leaves an enormous void in the conservative movement, Mitchell said. But the example of Kirk’s life and work — particularly his willingness to stand on his principles and engage in debate with people holding opposing views — will motivate others to join the conservative movement, he said.

Kirk’s appearance Wednesday at Utah Valley University was intended to be the kickoff for a new season of the “American Comeback Tour,” which was scheduled to include fall stops on college campuses in Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi.

A Turning Point USA official told CNN the tour would continue in some fashion “to celebrate Charlie’s life,” but added that grief-stricken friends and colleagues of Kirk were still processing the assassination and it was too soon to discuss next steps for the organization.

While a specific succession plan was not in place at Turning Point USA, the group that Kirk co-founded as a teenager more than a decade ago, several conservative leaders told CNN on Thursday they had no doubt the movement Kirk built on more than 800 college campuses – and countless high schools and home schools – would continue.

“For this generation of conservatives, it’s probably close to how many young people felt when President Kennedy was assassinated,” said Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin governor who now serves as president of Young America’s Foundation, in an interview. “There is fear and confusion, but resolve and wanting to do something more.”

The authenticity that Kirk embodied, Walker said, has created an opening among young conservatives that has not existed for generations. As the disbelief over Kirk’s murder fades, he said the mourning will turn into action on college campuses and beyond.

Many of Kirk’s young supporters praised him for giving them the courage to share their beliefs on college campuses, where many have felt their voices were silenced. CJ Pearson, the RNC Youth Advisory Council co-chair, said that Kirk’s death would expedite the movement of young people to the right.

“His absence will be felt, but I think it’s a charge now for so many of us in the young conservative movement to continue his work, to fight harder,” he said during an appearance Thursday on Fox News. “Because they want to instill fear within us.”

Officials have yet to determine the identity or motives of the shooter, but some conservatives have blamed liberals and argued their movement must fight back harder against their political rivals.

Trump has vowed to go after those responsible for not just Kirk’s death, but other forms of political violence he’s blamed on the “radical left.”

“We have a radical left group of lunatics out there, just absolute lunatics, and we’re going to get that problem solved,” Trump said Thursday, adding that he’s not concerned for his own safety but that of the country.

Asked how his supporters should respond, the president echoed Kirk’s message of disagreeing without being violent.

“He was an advocate of nonviolence,” Trump, who said he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, told reporters. “That’s the way I’d like to see people respond.”

Friends and colleagues of Kirk have urged those mourning his loss to turn their grief and anger into activism by continuing his work of engaging and electing young conservatives.

“Winning elections, winning the argument, winning the debate within the public space – that’s what Charlie did, that’s his entire legacy,” Tyler Bowyer, the chief operating officer of Turning Point Action, said during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room.”

Bowyer said he hoped Turning Point’s supporters woke up Thursday “realizing they have to get more involved” by collecting ballots, getting out the vote and running for office ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections.

“There’s nothing that we can do more to honor Charlie than to see this thing through. It cannot lose steam,” Bowyer said. “It cannot lose any kind of gas whatsoever. We have a war to fight.”

Benny Johnson, a conservative commentator who often appeared alongside Kirk at Turning Point USA events, implored his followers on Thursday to carry on the mantle and mission that Kirk started for young conservatives.

“It now falls to us to rise up with full hearts,” Johnson said in a video message. “To venerate Charlie’s legacy by defeating the evil which stole Charlie from us. This is America’s turning point.”

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