It has been exactly one year since prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) while preparing for one of his signature live debates, and the aftershocks of his assassination continue to reshape both his organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), and American campus political culture.
Jeb Jacobi, a third-year UVU student and volunteer at that fateful September 10 event, still carries vivid memories of the attack. The echo of the sniper’s gunshot that felled Kirk remains with him, and for witnesses like Jacobi, who saw the conservative leader as a hero, his killing on campus left an indelible mark. “It feels like there’s a forever stain on us here,” Jacobi told the BBC in an interview marking the anniversary. “This is where Charlie Kirk was killed.”
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, many supporters expected TPUSA — the youth conservative organization Kirk founded — would grow exponentially, fueled by the rising tide of sympathy and martyr status for its fallen leader. Just five days after Kirk’s death, a TPUSA spokesperson announced on X that the group had received more than 32,000 inquiries from students seeking to launch new campus chapters in just 48 hours, confirming a brief surge of grassroots support. But one year on, the organization has struggled to fill the void left by Kirk’s charismatic leadership.
“It’s not the same organisation,” Jacobi said of current TPUSA. “It just doesn’t have the same power, the same impact.” Current members confirm that internal friction between moderate and far-right factions has slowed the group’s momentum, with one Arkansas chapter completely rebranding to cut ties with the national organization over disagreement with its current direction. The BBC reached out to TPUSA for comment on this report but did not receive a response. Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk has since taken over as CEO of the organization, and the group has launched a new campus outreach initiative called Pick Up the Mic, which sends debaters to high schools and colleges across the U.S. to continue Kirk’s tradition of public political debate.
Not all members share the view that TPUSA has faltered. Macy Gunnell, who finally secured approval to launch a new TPUSA chapter at Indiana’s St Mary’s College after Kirk’s death — a goal she had pursued for years without success — says predictions of the group’s demise are wrong. “While there are flying accusations out there that Turning Point is dead, Turning Point’s become something that it never was, Turning Point became everything Charlie hated – that could not be further from the truth,” said Gunnell, now a 22-year-old media professional in Washington D.C. After meeting Erika Kirk and TPUSA leadership at the organization’s headquarters this summer, Gunnell remains optimistic: “I’m confident that Turning Point’s not going anywhere, and this is quite literally just the beginning.”
Beyond the internal struggles of TPUSA, Kirk’s assassination has deepened political polarization on and off the UVU campus, which is located in a deeply conservative Utah county where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than seven to one. Jacobi says the campus climate is more divided than ever, with rising hostility across ideological lines. “The culture has gotten more hostile,” he said. “I love for everyone to have their own viewpoints and [be] sharing them. The debate is good for society. It’s what Charlie did.”
Critics of Kirk have long argued that his high-profile campus debates were less about constructive discussion and more about stoking outrage to generate social media attention, while advancing misogynistic, racist and homophobic rhetoric. Since his death, some UVU students have protested a planned campus memorial to Kirk and attempted to block an anniversary commemoration event scheduled for Thursday. Conflicts between the campus TPUSA chapter and socialist student groups are now regular occurrences.
Anthony Shinkle, another 20-year-old UVU student, warns that the graphic, public killing of a beloved political leader has pushed vulnerable young conservatives in two dangerous directions: some now fear sharing their ideological views openly, while others have drifted toward more extreme, fringe political positions. “These are impressionable people, impressionable youth,” Shinkle said. “They watched their political hero be murdered very, very graphically. I feel like the assassin got exactly what he wanted.” Like Jacobi, Shinkle says no current conservative figure can step into Kirk’s unique role.
Political scientists note that the dip in momentum TPUSA is experiencing is far from unusual for a movement built around a single charismatic founding figure. “You have a movement that was started and led by this kind of charismatic figure, and the charismatic figure goes away,” said Mark Brewer, chair of the political science department at the University of Maine. “A little bit of loss of momentum isn’t exactly surprising.”
Brewer added that while a leadership vacuum remains, Kirk’s legacy and status as a conservative martyr remain powerful. “Kirk’s personal status as a martyr remains very strong. You can see plenty of folks on the right who are trying to claim affiliation with Kirk. In some ways, that maybe has only increased,” he said. “Kirk himself, in his own influence of his legacy, I don’t think that’s going anywhere.”
For many students who witnessed the attack, the killing has also prompted deep personal change. Shinkle, who moved to Utah from Alabama because his family believed it would be safer than his home state, says he carries a persistent, unshakable guilt: “I kind of feel a weird sense of guilt. I feel like it’s a common sentiment, that everyone wishes they could have done something.” Jacobi, for his part, has pulled back from political engagement and deepened his Christian faith, a path that mirrored Kirk’s own beliefs. “When Charlie died, I took a look at myself,” he said. “There are so many people who make politics their entire identity. It’s so unhealthy for you. It really made me realise I needed and wanted a relationship with Christ like Charlie had. Ever since I got more involved, I’ve felt much happier and more peaceful of a person.”
As the first anniversary of Kirk’s death approaches, the trial of the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, is set to move forward after a Utah judge cleared legal hurdles earlier this month. Robinson has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder — a capital offense in Utah — and six additional charges. For TPUSA, Brewer says the organization’s long-term trajectory remains unclear, and its future will be shaped in the coming year and a half. “The final part of the story hasn’t been written yet,” he said. “So I think a lot will be determined over the next six, 12, 18 months.”