After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, young conservatives work to carry on his message

Amna Nawaz:

The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sent shockwaves across the nation and sparked questions about the future of his organization, Turning Point USA.

Now, nearly two months later, young people are looking for ways to further his goals for the conservative movement.

Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, traveled to the University of Mississippi last week, where Kirk was supposed to speak as part of Turning Point's fall campus tour.

On an unseasonably cold and rainy day in Oxford, Mississippi, last week, hundreds of people waited for hours in a line that wrapped around the SJB Pavilion at Ole Miss.

Rachel Chmielewski, Student, University of Mississippi: This is a big moment for us. This is a one-in-a-lifetime experience.

Student:

Well, I mean, it's not every day that the vice president has come into Ole Miss, so I had to come out, had to come support.

Liz Landers:

Inside, a sea of students in red and white MAGA hats packed the arena to the rafters to see Vice President J.D. Vance and Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, take the stage.

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: We know that you are the future of Charlie Kirk's legacy, so thank you for being here.

(Cheering)

Liz Landers:

Its massive attendance is a sign of a surge in interest in Turning Point USA since Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Lesley Lachman, President, Turning Point USA Ole Miss Chapter:

Are you guys coming tomorrow?

Student:

I am.

Liz Landers:

A day before, the president of Ole Miss' Turning Point chapter, Lesley Lachman, stood at a table outside of the student union to talk to students about the organization and drive up attendance for the event.

Lesley Lachman:

I'm introducing Erika tomorrow.

Liz Landers:

She is there most days, rain or shine, and holds chapter meetings twice a month at the mostly white state school in the ruby-red south.

Lesley Lachman:

I'd say, because our campus always has kind of leaned right, it was not uncommon for people to come to the meetings. So the meetings were already large. I mean, and then as soon as his passing, it overnight, became hundreds to thousands.

Liz Landers:

Kirk founded Turning Point USA at 18 years old and built it into a political powerhouse with an emphasis on faith, freedom and love of country. President Trump credits the organization and Kirk for his support among young voters. That support is particularly strong among young men, reaching 56 percent in last year's presidential election.

But at Ole Miss, Lachman says it's not just men joining her chapter.

Lesley Lachman:

Young ladies are very interested in Turning Point. It's cool to be conservative. It's hot to be the conservative chick. It's the new trend.

Liz Landers:

One of those women, junior Mary Cate Doughty.

Charlie Kirk was obviously assassinated in a really horrific public way. Has that made you think differently about TPUSA and just politics in general in this country?

Mary Cate Doughty, Member, Turning Point USA at Ole Miss: Yes, definitely. I mean, before Charlie Kirk's assassination, I wasn't in Turning Point USA. Now, like, I have joined as a member. And, I mean, I think it really puts things into perspective about how divisive things have become in our country.

Charlie Kirk, Founder, Turning Point USA:

The Civil Rights Act, though, let's be clear, created a beast, and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon.

Liz Landers:

But Kirk also expressed very controversial views about race, gay rights and religion.

Charlie Kirk:

Thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death. Just saying.

Really something, guys.

Liz Landers:

He often brought those views to college campuses, where he would debate students directly.

Charlie Kirk:

Brought in 5 percent of the population of Haiti.

Man:

I don't see the issue with that, though. Like, as…

Charlie Kirk:

You don't see the issue with that?

Calvin Wood, Vice President, University of Mississippi College Democrats: Arguing over our issues, especially when it's this big figure, Charlie Kirk, and some random 18-year-old student who's shaking with their mic and all that, like, it never struck me as a fair landscape or environment for people to actually find common ground on issues.

Liz Landers:

On the University of Mississippi's campus, seniors Calvin Wood and Elizabeth Wildman lead the college Democrats. As hundreds waited in line for the Turning Point event, they were hanging up fliers for their own that night.

What do you think of Turning Point USA?

Elizabeth Wildman, President, University of Mississippi College Democrats: I definitely think that Turning Point USA is getting a lot of traction right now. I think that they have a lot of wind underneath them, and I think that that's kind of carrying their narrative. And at times it feels a little intimidating. It feels very, very intimidating.

Liz Landers:

They pointed back to September, when the university fired an employee over a social media post that criticized Kirk in the wake of his murder, one of many incidents across the country. That employee is now suing the university's chancellor, saying the move violates their First Amendment rights.

Shaun Gussow, Member, Turning Point USA at Ole Miss: I think that there is freedom of speech, but there's no freedom of speech without consequence.

Liz Landers:

Sophomore Shaun Gussow says he comes from a staunchly Democratic household, though he identifies as a conservative. He told us he was originally drawn to Kirk because of his openness to engage with people of different backgrounds, and he's found community here.

Shaun Gussow:

Despite everyone telling me that groups like these are full of hate and filled with people who just want to shoot you down and just racist and all the other words, ever since I have went to these meetings, it has been the complete opposite. I have never met a more welcoming group of people.

Liz Landers:

As people from those meetings and thousands more filled the arena that night, Erika Kirk, now the Turning Point CEO, kept her remarks focused on her late husband's legacy and her Christian faith.

Erika Kirk, CEO, Turning Point USA:

You are the courageous generation. Hear me when I say that. My husband believed that to his core. That's why he went on campuses. That's why he was trying to reach you.

Andrew Kolvet, Host, "The Charlie Kirk Show": Every single different initiative program, whatever, has just seen explosive growth.

Liz Landers:

Andrew Kolvet is a spokesperson for Turning Point USA's national organization.

Andrew Kolvet:

Right, happy Monday. This is "The Charlie Kirk Show." I'm Andrew Kolvet.

Liz Landers:

And now hosts "The Charlie Kirk Show," a national radio program and podcast with nearly two million weekly listeners.

He told us Turning Point has now received some 140,000 inquiries to start new high school and college chapters, and about 200,000 people have signed up to get involved in the next elections.

What is Turning Point's impact going to be on the midterm elections next year?

Andrew Kolvet:

We're going to pick some strategic locations to deploy our resources. Now we have all these hundreds of thousands more ballot chasers and door knockers and volunteers that we're going to be able to deploy.

Liz Landers:

But even amid this surge in excitement for Turning Point, there are signs of pushback at several schools. That includes the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, where the student government recently opposed the formation of a new chapter, though the university ultimately approved it.

There was a student senator there who voted against that chapter opening on campus, and the student said Turning Point USA has a national track record of harassment, misinformation and intimidation. Do you?

Andrew Kolvet:

No. I mean, if you are somebody that consumes a lot of content from a liberal vantage point,you will see a lot of cherry-picked clips of Charlie. You will see things out of context with zero explanation of why a phrase or a sentence was said. But then when you peel back the layers and you see why he was referring to something the way he was, or why he was discussing something the way he was, all of a sudden, people are like, oh, that makes sense.

But, no, we believe in peaceful dialogue, peaceful debate.

Student:

Why are we making Christianity one of the major things that you have to have in common to be one of you guys?

Liz Landers:

Kirk had been slated to debate students at Ole Miss during the event, which Vice President Vance did instead. The rally's religious overtones led to tough questions about Christianity's proper place in the country.

Student:

Requiring Christianity in public schools goes against the founding fathers' wish of freedom of religion. What do you think about that?

J.D. Vance:

I make no apologies for believing that Christianity is the pathway to God. I make no apologies for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country, but I'm not going to force you to believe in anything, because that's not what God wants and that's not what I want either.

Liz Landers:

And the vice president used the occasion to directly call the thousands of young supporters who filled the arena to action.

J.D. Vance:

If you think that we could be doing more, then pick up the phone and get involved in the effort to change our minds and change the future of the United States of America in the process.

Liz Landers:

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Liz Landers in Oxford, Mississippi.