Erika Kirk to lead Turning Point USA after husband's death, board announces

Erika Kirk, widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, will lead Turning Point USA as its CEO and chair of the board in the wake of her husband’s death, the organization announced Thursday.

The Turning Point board unanimously elected Erika Kirk on Thursday.

In a statement announcing the decision, the organization said, “In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death.”

“It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie's side. Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA,” read a statement signed by the organization’s board members.

The board members pledged to “carry on” Charlie Kirk’s mission, writing, “The attempt to destroy Charlie's work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before.”

The statement was signed by board members Doug De Groote, Mike Miller, Tom Sodeika and David Engelhardt.

In the immediate aftermath of her husband’s death, Erika Kirk pledged to pick up the mantle of the organization that her husband co-founded in 2012.

“To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. It won’t. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die,” Kirk said in a Friday night livestream, in her first public comments since her husband’s death.

“All of us will refuse to let that happen,” she continued. “No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it.”

Erika Kirk said Friday her husband was a “martyr” for the nation and pledged to expand Turning Point USA in his honor.

“I promise I’ll make Turning Point the biggest thing this nation has ever seen,” she said during the livestream. “I promise Charlie.”