By Joe Sommerlad

Copyright independent

Turning Point USA, the grassroots right-wing political organization founded by Charlie Kirk, has been left reeling after its leader was shot dead during a campus event in Utah on Wednesday.

Kirk, 31, was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem when a sniper’s bullet hit him during a discussion about gun violence. He was rushed to the hospital but died soon afterwards. He leaves behind a wife and two young children. A manhunt for the gunman is currently ongoing.

“May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie,” TPUSA said in a statement posted on its official website and on X. “We ask that everyone keep his family and loved ones in your prayers.”

Kirk was an 18-year-old Chicago college dropout and Ronald Reagan admirer when he founded the organization in 2012 with the support and encouragement of Bill Montgomery, 71, a Tea Party-backed legislative candidate and marketing entrepreneur.

While still in high school, Kirk

“We are committed to identifying, educating, training, and organizing students to promote freedom,” TPUSA states on its website. What that amounts to in practice is promoting conservative values in America’s schools, colleges, and universities on the assumption that such institutions naturally tend to be left-leaning spaces that scorn Republican talking points in favor of progressivism.

Coming to fruition as Barack Obama’s second term drew to a close, TPUSA was ideally poised to latch onto the ascent of Donald Trump, seeing him as a champion who could re-energize right-leaning politics and shake up the establishment. However, Kirk initially appeared to favor Texas Sen. Ted Cruz before switching his support.

Like Trump, Kirk proved himself a happy culture warrior, regularly appearing on conservative media to take Democrats to task over a vast array of issues, from trans rights and gay marriage to abortion and gun control, frequently attracting controversy.

He used his celebrity among Republicans to help grow TPUSA, and it now has a presence at 3,500 institutions, more than 850 campus chapters, and “field representatives” in all 50 states. Its activists spend their days sending right-wing speakers to college campuses and staging conferences at which their young audiences can discuss contemporary social issues like race and immigration through a MAGA lens.

TPUSA is particularly known for its Professor Watchlist (launched in 2016) and School Board Watchlist (2021), which it uses to name and shame teachers and boards whom it accuses of “discriminating” against Republican students.

Still funded by conservative private donors, TPUSA has six national summits and hosts eight regional conferences per year.

It also has several spinoff ventures, including Turning Point Action, tasked with engaging voters specifically; Turning Point Faith, for religious advocacy; Turning Point Endowment, which handles its charitable endeavors; and Turning Point U.K., its British arm (Kirk addressed the Oxford Union in May).

In June this year, it organized its biggest ever Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Grapevine, Texas, at which the speakers, including Kirk and his wife Erika, both of whom are evangelical Christians, urged the 3,000 young women present to consider putting marriage before their careers.

TPUSA is also behind several popular podcasts, including the late activist’s own Charlie Kirk Show and Culture Apothecary, which is fronted by Alex Clark and focuses on wellness, lifestyle, and Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

Appealing to young men through podcasts and new media was seen as a key strategy behind Trump’s election victory over Kamala Harris last year, and TPUSA has been widely credited with helping to drive turnout for the Republican ticket.

The president has never overlooked the significance of Kirk’s influence over that demographic and made sure to speak at a TPUSA gathering in Arizona last September.

He has since paid tribute to Kirk and said he will posthumously award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.