TPUSA Isn’t Going Anywhere — And The Left ‘Should Be Terrified’

GLENDALE, AZ — Less than two weeks after founder Charlie Kirk’s murder, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) named Erika Kirk CEO and reported a surge of student interest, signaling the organization’s next phase of expansion and influence.

News of Kirk’s death spread quickly online Sept. 10, with figures including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance mourning the loss of a conservative leader who made a major impact on younger Republicans. Kirk founded TPUSA in 2012 at just 18 years old, becoming the face of the movement through viral campus debates on issues like abortion, free speech and gender ideology.

“When Charlie would do these debates, remember he was really like Daniel into the lion’s den. He went into places that were very hostile, and you would find those few students who were sort of, I don’t want to say cowering, but they weren’t easily able to express themselves because of the social opprobrium,” PragerU board member and longtime TPUSA advisory board member David J. Blumberg told the Daily Caller News Foundation while reflecting on Kirk’s legacy.

“They weren’t able to express themselves in class, because they would be shouted down by the professor, or the students, or they would be hushed, or they would be shamed,” Blumberg added. “So Charlie played a very important role.”

Since its inception, the organization has generated nearly half a billion dollars in revenue, expanded into high schools and colleges across the country and grown its staff.

WHAT KIRK BUILT

With Kirk so central to TPUSA’s identity, some have asked whether the group can survive his death. Speaking with the DCNF, TPUSA contributor and Kirk’s friend Alex Clark discussed wrestling with grief over the death of her boss. She said she knew how much Kirk meant to the organization.

“I was worried. The first thing when he was killed, I thought, ‘Oh, no, people donate for Charlie. I think we’re all going to be unemployed.’ I was like, first of all, ‘Oh, my gosh, we’re cooked.’ I love this company. I love this organization. We’re going to be folding up,” Clark said.

“This is within 10 minutes, and I’m like, ‘You’re going through grief and panic and you’re shocked’ and you’re just like, ‘What next? What’s going to happen to us?’” Clark asked. “I think all the employees were worried like that. We were all freaking out.”

The loss of Kirk came after his major role in the 2024 presidential election, where Trump won both the Electoral College and popular vote.

Launching his own TikTok at the start of 2024, Kirk went viral multiple times and played a key role in boosting Trump’s appeal among younger voters. According to CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten, Trump’s support among 18- to 24-year-olds rose from 34% in 2016 to 43% by 2024.

In 2024, he recruited Citizen Alliance CEO Cliff Maloney and his team to knock on 500,000 doors in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state. Maloney told the DCNF that, after Kirk’s request, they hired 120 people and knocked on 510,000 doors from September through Election Day.

But along with his political work, Kirk became increasingly vocal about his faith and love for God. Reflecting on her boss’ leadership, Clark said that over the last three years, Kirk did a “180” and “really only wanted to talk about his faith.”

“He was obsessed with talking about that. It was always very prominent in his life and very important to him. But I feel like in the early years it was more political. Then definitely in the last years of his life, it became very, very much faith based,” Clark told the DCNF.

“It was really important to him to create the department Turning Point faith that we now have, which is focused on getting evangelicals out and voting,” Clark added. “He really saw that as something super important.”

INSPIRED REVIVAL AND GROWTH

In the days of Kirk’s leadership, Clark said he would often call TPUSA “the greatest organization to ever exist,” that they would one day be “the biggest political organization.”

“Every boss says that they’re to be inspirational and encouraging,” Clark told the DCNF. “And I now see that that was absolutely correct.”

Since Kirk’s assassination, TPUSA has seen a surge of new interest. In an X post Thursday, the organization said it has received “62,000+ requests from high school and college students nationwide to start a chapter or join an existing one.”

“We see these numbers coming in and just how much people love Charlie and the amount of lives that he touched,” Clark said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I couldn’t have been more wrong,’” Clark said. “Not only are we going to be OK, we’re going to be more than OK.’ People love Turning Point USA more than ever. And people want to carry on Charlie’s legacy more than ever. They care more about Turning Point now than maybe even before.”

With that momentum, TPUSA announced Thursday that Kirk’s wife Erika Kirk will serve as the new CEO. Speaking at her husband’s memorial service in Arizona, Erika moved the crowd to tears as she forgave his alleged shooter and delivered a message to American families, including women — a shift Clark says will define the organization’s next chapter.

“I cannot wait to see what kinds of creative ideas she has for different initiatives or new departments or new projects for Turning Point to get involved in. I do think just naturally, because she is a woman, I think a lot of that will have to do with focusing on the women,” Clark told the DCNF.

“Because we just saw that last August there was that statistic that came out talking about how high school boys now more than ever are turning conservative as they’re graduating. But high school girls are not. High school girls are very, very much so turning liberal,” Clark added.

In addition to its rapidly growing student network, Maloney told the DCNF he plans to continue Citizen Alliance’s partnership with the organization.

“I’ve talked to hundreds of Turning Point staff, their donors, their activists. We’re going to double down at Citizens Alliance with our partnership,” Maloney said. “In Pennsylvania, we’ve already agreed to knock a million doors in 2028. We’re going to knock 750,000 doors in 2026. We’re even knocking a half a million doors this year and 2027. We’re doing that in direct partnership with Turning Point.”

“We got Charlie’s blessing last year. We’ve got the blessing at Turning Point now to move that forward. What I’m going to do with Charlie would be knock that extra door,” Maloney added. “That’s my favorite Charlie quote, ‘Knock that extra door.’ I’m going to look at that every morning moving forward, and God bless Charlie Kirk.”

When asked about volunteer activity for door-knocking, Maloney joked that while he hasn’t seen over 60,000 requests, he’s “never seen anything like” the number of applications to join the on the ground movement over the last two weeks.

“Patriots are motivated to take action, and we’re seeing that firsthand,” Maloney told the DCNF.

MESSAGE TO DEMS

While many across the nation, from both sides of the political aisle, have mourned Kirk’s death, some Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, pushed back online.

Despite the silence from Democrats on TPUSA’s renewed growth and Kirk’s legacy, observers have noted potential repercussions for Democrats. On Sept. 15, Mark Halperin warned the party about the consequences it could face in the 2026 midterms and future elections. Maloney echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that the warnings are not rumors but “100% truth.”

“I think that obviously it’s a horrific tragedy, but Republicans don’t have anything that motivates them typically. When we’ve got the House, the Senate, and the White House, right? So I don’t ever want to say there’s a silver lining in the death of one of my good friends. But he’s smiling down on us knowing that this will backfire because Republicans, we’re on fire right now,” Maloney said.

“I think not just 2026, but we have elections in Pennsylvania this November 4. And this gives people a sense of purpose,” Maloney added. “So I do think this will impact 2025, 2026, and just anything where we’re battling Democrats. People are motivated. So I do think it’s going to inspire the masses on the right to take action. Once again, Charlie’s smiling down on us.”

Clark also said that TPUSA will not only move forward, but it will move forward with action.

“You should be absolutely terrified,” Clark said. “You guys are cooked. You’ve already lost. You do not want this smoke.”

“You might as well just let us have it because we are going to door knock until we are blue in the face. We are going to leave no phone number not called. We’re going to be checking up on every single person, making sure they’re voting,” Clark told the DCNF. “This is going to be the greatest grassroots conservative movement-ever effort you have ever seen in our next election.”

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