How Charlie Kirk remade Gen Z |
In the hours and days after Charlie Kirk’s killing, the breadth of people — particularly younger ones — sharing grief and shock on newsfeeds, Instagram stories, or TikTok livestreams might have been surprising.
They were not just avowed conservatives or loyal Trump voters, but seemingly apolitical people: old classmates or hometown friends who never posted much about current events — until now. For liberals or people in their 30s it might have seemed unexpected.
But the reactions are just one sign of Kirk’s influence, and how his movement and style of politics might linger after his death.
Kirk was a generational figure, who redefined how politics, political media, and Gen Z culture worked for his followers, allies, and political opponents.
To understand that lasting influence — why he resonated with Gen Z — it might be helpful to break down the elements of his appeal:
1) He redefined conservatism, creating a new generation of leaders and groups
At least for the conservative Gen Z, Kirk held a kind of mythic status: He went from being essentially a nobody — the barely 18-year-old founder of a scrappy activist group — to a conservative kingmaker before age 31.
He made himself indispensable to the Republican Party. President Donald Trump was reelected last year with levels of youth voter support not seen for a Republican since the 2000s. Kirk was largely credited with helping to bring that about through his nonprofit, specifically by going after disengaged or passive young men.
The organization Kirk launched, Turning Point USA, started off in 2012 as a ragtag group trying to establish a foothold on any college campus. In their first year, it had about 9,200 Facebook followers, 15 campus affiliates, and 40 bloggers.
By the 2020s, Turning Point had essentially become the “youth faction of the Republican Party,” according to the Gen Z writer, researcher, and consultant Rachel Janfaza — a massive national network of more than 800 college chapters, millions of social media followers, and nearly $100 million in fundraising in 2024, that also supported other right-leaning youth-focused organizations.
Before Turning Point’s arrival to campuses, “you had shells of organizations with College Republicans and Young........