Charlie Kirk's friends praise his faith at memorial service

Prominent conservatives praised Charlie Kirk as a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom as more than 60,000 gathered Sunday evening to honor the slain political activist, podcaster and radio host whose work they say they must now advance.

The memorial service for Kirk drew everyone from the President and Vice President to young people shaped by the 31-year-old firebrand.

“He’s a martyr now for America’s freedom,” Trump said in his tribute. “I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie. And neither now will history.”

Speakers highlighted Kirk’s profound faith and his strong belief that young conservatives need to get married, have children and pass on their values to keep building their movement. 

Those close to Kirk prayed and the floors at the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals shook from the bass of Christian rock bands. 

People began lining up before dawn to secure a spot inside State Farm Stadium west of Phoenix, where Kirk’s Turning Point organization is based. The 63,400-seat stadium quickly filled with people dressed in red, white and blue, as organizers suggested.

The mood in the stadium ebbed and flowed throughout a service that stretched more than five hours. Mourners were patient and cordial, even after waiting hours to enter and then an hour or more for food in stadium concession lines.

Kirk’s widow, Erika, in her own address said in the midst of her grief she was finding comfort that her husband left this world without regrets. She said she forgives the man who is charged with killing him.

“My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” said Erika Kirk, who is taking over as Turning Point’s leader. She added, “I forgive him.”

Trump, who closed out the service, remarked that Charlie Kirk “did not hate his opponents” and “wanted the best for them,” an attribute he found hard to understand.

Turning Point, the group Kirk founded to mobilize young Christian conservatives, became a multimillion-dollar operation under his leadership with enormous reach.

The crowd was a testament to the influence he accumulated in conservative America with his ability to mobilize young people.

And the service brought together a veritable who’s who of current and former lawmakers in the crowd. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and former top adviser to Trump, was spotted sitting with Trump for part of the service.

Kirk built a loyal following that turned out to support or argue with him as he traveled the country for the events like the one at Utah Valley University, where he was shot.

Speaker after speaker, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, expressed awe at Kirk’s ability to go into what many conservatives saw as the lion’s den to make the conservative case: college campuses.

“Why don’t you start somewhere easier,” Rubio recalled thinking when he first heard about Kirk years ago. “Like, for example, communist Cuba?”



(AP Photo John Locher)