Turning Point USA formally appointed Erika Kirk, widow of the organization’s late founder Charlie Kirk, as its new chief executive officer and chair of the board on Wednesday. The announcement came in a letter from board members posted on the group’s official Facebook page late Thursday morning.
“It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie’s side,” the statement read. “And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.”
The board’s statement went on to vow they will continue the work of its founder. “We will not surrender or kneel before evil. We will carry on.”
The leadership change follows a groundswell of student interest in the group. Just two days earlier, TPUSA reported that it had received more than 54,000 requests in the span of six days from high school and college students nationwide seeking to start a chapter or join an existing one. “This is just the beginning,” the group wrote in the September 16 social media post.
Kirk, who has long worked alongside her husband in conservative causes, also leads a nonprofit called Everyday Heroes Like You and hosts the “Midweek Rise Up” podcast. In previous public remarks, she has vowed to carry forward her husband’s mission. “They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love,” she said in a recent address. “If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country.”
Turning Point USA, founded in 2012, bills itself as the nation’s largest conservative youth organization. The group says it has thousands of active chapters on more than 3,500 campuses across the United States. Erika Kirk’s succession aligns with her late husband’s expressed wish that she lead the group should anything happen to him, the Thursday social post disclosed.
A memorial service for Charlie Kirk is scheduled for Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where prominent conservatives — including former President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance — are expected to attend.
For the board, Erika Kirk’s appointment is both continuity and defiance. “The attempt to destroy Charlie’s work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before,” their letter said.
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Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor of The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow her on X at @christinakb.
Image “Erika Kirk” by Turning Point USA.
