One year ago today, Charlie Kirk was assassinated in our own backyard, at Utah Valley University. 

The circumstances of his death were shocking, not just because of how close but they can easily overshadow the story of his life. Kirk was only 31 years old, yet in the 13 years between founding Turning Point USA and his death, he became one of the most recognizable figures in Republican politics and one of the most influential voices among young conservatives.

Here’s a look back on Charlie Kirk’s influence and impact on the Republican movement. 

 

The Rise of Turning Point USA

Kirk's political career started when he was just 18 years old. In 2012, he co-founded Turning Point USA with businessman Bill Montgomery, initially as a student organization focused on free markets and limited government. The organization grew from a small operation into a national political organization with chapters and activists at colleges and high schools across the country. By 2025, it had a presence on more than 2,000 campuses.

Kirk understood something that many political organizations (especially Republican ones) struggled with. He saw that young people were already interested in politics but didn’t always have a place in traditional political institutions. So he found a way to bring politics to them. His campus events, built around what he called the "Prove Me Wrong" table, became a signature part of his work. Kirk would sit behind a table, often under a tent, and invite students to debate him. This format was simple enough to catch up and entertaining enough to spread online, making him a social media personality as much as a political organizer. Videos from college campuses circulated widely, bringing more attention to Kirk and Turning Point USA and helping the organization build a growing network of young conservatives.

As Turning Point grew, so did Kirk's influence within the Republican Party. He became a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and helped connect the Republican Party's increasingly populist politics with a younger generation. Turning Point's conferences and rallies brought young conservatives together with some of the country's biggest Republican figures, and Vice President JD Vance later credited those events with helping power much of his own administration's organizing success.

 

Young voters and the 2024 election

For decades, Republicans had struggled with young voters. That started to change in 2024, with the popularity of Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk.

Donald Trump improved his performance among voters under 30 compared with his 2020 campaign, rising from 36 percent of that age group in 2020 to 47 percent in 2024, an 11-point swing in a demographic Republicans had struggled with for years. Trump won voters under 30 outright in Michigan and came close in Arizona, two states where the youth vote was usually an afterthought for GOP campaigns.

Overall young adult turnout actually fell in 2024. Tufts University's CIRCLE research center estimated that about 47 percent of voters ages 18 to 29 cast a ballot nationally, down from an estimated 52 to 55 percent in 2020. Fewer young people voted, but a larger share than expected of the ones who did chose Trump. There were many reasons for that shift, and no single organization or individual can take credit for the entire result, but Kirk was a huge part of it.

Turning Point Action launched a massive voter mobilization effort in 2024 aimed at reaching lower-propensity Trump supporters and getting them to actually cast a ballot. The organization also worked to reach young voters through social media, campus organizing and traditional get-out-the-vote operations. As Republican strategist Colin Reed put it, "Charlie opened the doors for younger people to not only consider the conservative movement but embrace it," even against a Democratic Party that had the celebrity endorsements and cultural weight on its side. Former Turning Point staffer Anthony DeWitt credited Kirk with lifting up "not only grassroots, but young people" who wanted a way into politics and hadn't found one yet.

That was perhaps Kirk's most important political lesson. He knew that young people needed to be empowered to actually vote. For years, political campaigns had talked about engaging younger generations, and Kirk built an organization specifically designed to do it. His influence helped Republicans compete for voters who had historically leaned heavily Democratic.

 

Remembering Charlie Kirk

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was speaking to roughly 3,000 people at Utah Valley University as part of his American Comeback Tour when he was fatally shot. His death was a tragedy for his family, his organization and the many young people who considered him a mentor or inspiration.

Leaders across the political spectrum condemned the killing. Nearly 100,000 people attended his memorial at State Farm Stadium in Arizona eleven days later, and he was later posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was a sobering reminder of the consequences of political violence. 

A year later, the question of Kirk's political legacy is still being answered. His organization continues its work. The young conservatives he recruited and mentored are entering campaigns, government and political organizations of their own, and the Republican Party is still trying to figure out how to maintain the connection with young voters that Kirk helped build.

But one part of it is already clear. Charlie Kirk believed young Americans could have a role in shaping the country. He spent his adult life trying to convince them to take that role seriously.

That idea is familiar to us at Doers Network.

We believe politics works best when people move beyond watching from the sidelines and decide to get involved. This means voting, volunteering on a campaign, attending a local meeting, running for office or simply taking an interest in what is happening in your community.

Whether you agreed with him, disagreed with him, or fell somewhere in between, it is difficult to look at Republican politics today without seeing his influence.

One year after his death, perhaps the best way to remember Charlie Kirk is to recognize the generation he brought into politics and the thousands of young people he encouraged to become participants rather than spectators.