Montanans Remember Charlie Kirk, Conservative Activist and Founder of Turning Point
His death has come with calls for an end to political violence, and many argue his legacy lies with young people, whom he is credited with inspiring to vote for conservative candidates
By Mariah Thomas
Braxton Mitchell’s involvement with Turning Point, a nonprofit founded by Charlie Kirk, dates back to 2018.
The organization, which Kirk founded in 2012 at age 18, operates with a mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.”
Mitchell, now a 25-year-old Republican state legislator representing Columbia Falls, landed on the organization’s radar for his work organizing a walkout at Columbia Falls High School. After the Parkland school shooting in 2018, students across the country called for an end to gun violence. But Mitchell took a different tact. He coordinated a pro-gun walkout, advocating for the Second Amendment and mourning the victims of the shooting, he said. Afterwards, Mitchell said the school’s teachers and administrators responded in a hostile manner. It’s a response, he said, that is common when conservative-leaning students share their beliefs.
Kirk, a conservative activist hailing from the Chicago suburbs, was killed last Wednesday. He was best-known for going to college campuses, setting up a chair and sparring with students over their political views, arguing for right-leaning viewpoints. He would film students on camera and post video clips of the interactions, many of which went viral.
Mitchell started following Kirk as a teen. And it was Kirk who Mitchell credits with making him, and other conservative students, feel that they could share their beliefs.
“I know a lot of these kids just never have their voices heard, and if they do, they get met with backlash by the school or by other students and again, my own personal case, you know, I just saw someone like Charlie out there going to campus and saying, ‘Hey, no, your voice matters and it shouldn’t be silenced for what you believe in,’” Mitchell said.
Kirk was vehemently pro-gun, anti-abortion, opposed transgender rights and railed against affirmative action policies. He was accused of antisemitism and endorsed the fringe “replacement theory,” which argues that nefarious actors are trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite immigrants. He also criticized Islam, calling it a danger to the United States. But perhaps most significantly, Kirk advocated for free speech — something many have argued his debates with college students exemplified.
Over his decade of experience in the political scene, the 31-year-old firebrand amassed huge followings on social media. He had more than 10 million followers on Instagram and nearly 4 million on TikTok. Clips from his events regularly went viral, including ones from an event he held at the University of Montana last year. Kirk’s presence at the school came as a boost to then-candidate for the U.S. Senate, Tim Sheehy, a Republican.
Kirk posted a video to Instagram from the University of Montana event giving a student reasons to vote for Trump. He also posted one to TikTok of a woman claiming a professor failed her, allegedly for not providing pronouns in class. That video amassed more than 250,000 likes.
Less than a year after his appearance at the University of Montana, Kirk was assassinated. He was shot while debating a student during a speaking event like the one he held on UM’s campus. The tour, dubbed the “American Comeback Tour,” was slated for a stop at Montana State University in October. A suspect remained at large until late Thursday night. Authorities arrested 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson after his family turned him in.
Kirk’s death has sparked discourse from all corners of the internet. Many from both sides of the political spectrum have decried increasing political violence. Kirk’s shooting follows on the heels of the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker earlier this summer; an arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home; and multiple assassination attempts on President Donald Trump’s life, all in the past year.
In Montana, Turning Point chapters at both the University of Montana and Montana State held vigils honoring Kirk’s memory last week. Some people, like Mitchell and Montana’s federal delegation, mourned Kirk. They remembered his appearances in the state and his influence on them personally. Montana’s Sen. Steve Daines called Kirk a “martyr.”
Still others remember aspects of Kirk’s work that conflict with that legacy, including his “Professor Watchlist” project. That project caused one University of Montana professor to receive threats and harassment after his placement on it.
Across the country, major corporations, universities and news organizations have fired employees over their responses to Kirk’s death. In response to apparent social media celebrations of Kirk’s murder, Gov. Greg Gianforte released a statement committing to honoring freedom of speech. He highlighted a law he signed prohibiting the termination of employees for their social media posts. Sen. Keith Regier, a Flathead-area legislator, sponsored that bill in the 2023 session.
“I ask every American to join me in seeking greater unity in our nation, not division,” Gianforte wrote.
In 2016, Turning Point launched a new venture: a Professor Watchlist. A video of Kirk introduces the watchlist on Turning Point’s website.
“The professor watchlist uncovers the most radical, left-wing professors from universities that are known to suppress conservative voices and advance the progressive agenda,” Kirk says in the video.
The video also outlines a School Board Watchlist and a Dean’s List, where Turning Point scores colleges on their treatment of conservative students. The Professor Watchlist was the first of these projects.
When it launched in 2016, it featured just over 200 professors. That included the University of Montana’s Tobin Miller Shearer, who directs the school’s African American Studies program. He remains on the list today. The list’s current iteration also features another UM professor, Anya Jabour, who teaches about women’s gender and sexuality studies. No other Montana universities have professors on the list.
For Shearer, the reality of landing on Turning Point’s watchlist had consequences — both professionally and personally.
“Professionally, if anything, it attracted more students to my classes than pushed them away, simply because it shone a spotlight on what I’m doing and why I’m doing it and allowed me to articulate that to a larger audience than if I hadn’t been put on the list,” Shearer said.
On the personal side, Shearer and his family dealt with hate mail, death threats and other forms of harassment from Turning Point supporters. He had landed on watchlists for supremacy groups before — a classification he assigned to Turning Point. The group has ties to extremists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The Turning Point list, Shearer said, was the first time where the threats were credible enough that the FBI contacted him and warned him to take them seriously. Other professors across the country had similar experiences after landing on Turning Point’s watchlist.
Shearer held his classes in secret and had to have police protection after his name ended up on the list. He said he tried to meet with Turning Point and his critics about the matter several times. But, he said, the organization was unresponsive to his requests to meet.
The credible threats continued for years. The most recent happened three years ago, with threats made at Shearer’s home. Police recommended he install a home security system at that point.
Shearer stressed that he is against political violence and doesn’t believe it has a place in a democratic society.
“I don’t let go of the commitment to shaping this country in its best aspirations of continuing to be a democracy, and political violence has no part of that,” he told the Beacon Friday.
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar released a statement in the wake of Kirk’s death. Bodnar wrote that the school condemned violence and remained committed to “fostering a climate where free expression is protected and encouraged, and where disagreement is met with respectful debate, not retaliation.”
Mitchell, whose involvement in Turning Point shaped his approach to politicking, echoed those sentiments about political violence.
“I don’t care what side you’re on,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to, you know, what Charlie advocated for, which was respectful dialogue and in politics, nobody should be hurting other people based off their political beliefs and ideologies.”
He was at a legislative event in California when he received the news about Kirk’s death. He went online searching for clues about Kirk’s status only to find a graphic video of Kirk’s shooting.
“I don’t even know how to describe how I felt,” Mitchell said. “I went from being optimistic that he was OK, you know, maybe he was grazed — I didn’t know exactly what happened. When I saw the video, I mean, my heart definitely sank.”
He said he got a flight home and remained glued to the news throughout the day Thursday. He felt relieved waking up Friday to see that a suspect was in custody.
For Mitchell, Kirk’s organization served as a positive force. Following the walkout he organized in 2018, Mitchell became a regular face at Turning Point events and joined the nonprofit’s ambassador program in 2019.
He spoke at Turning Point events, promoted the brand and met friends through the organization.
Mitchell also credited Turning Point with helping him win his first election to the state’s House of Representatives in 2020. He said working as an ambassador for the organization taught him about discussion, debate and how to have rational conversations with people. He used those skills while knocking on doors during his campaigns for the legislature.
As an ambassador, Mitchell met Kirk several times. While he described Kirk as “fierce” when it came to his debates and online presence, on a personal level, Mitchell said Kirk was genuine, down-to-earth and deeply rooted in his faith.
I don’t know who the next Charlie’s gonna be. I think everybody’s wondering and asking that question, but I don’t think (his death) is gonna stop anything. It’s just gonna motivate more people.
State Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls
Mitchell wasn’t the only young person upon whom Kirk had a deep impact. In fact, Mitchell credited Kirk with Trump’s gains in the youth vote in the 2024 election cycle.
Young voters made a marked swing to the right in the 2024 election. Among voters aged 18-29, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won over Trump by four points in 2024, according to Tufts’ Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. But in 2020, young voters cast their ballots for Democrat Joe Biden by 25 points, over President Trump. That’s a 21-point swing to the right in four years.
The president himself and other political figures and pundits shared Mitchell’s analysis — that Kirk deserved credit for that swing — in the wake of the 2024 election. Turning Point Action’s get out the vote efforts in swing states, particularly Arizona, have been widely documented and lauded. His effect on young people has served as a significant part of the conversation around Kirk’s legacy.
“I was around campaigning for President Trump in ’24, working to win the Senate races that gave the majority to the president so we could move forward his cabinet and the Big Beautiful Bill and so forth, people would ask me, ‘what’s the secret with young people on college campuses and young adults?’” Daines told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade Sunday. “I had a two-word answer: ‘Charlie Kirk.’”
Daines also told Kilmeade his own children were close with Kirk.
“The impact of his work on behalf of the conservative movement and to encourage young people to engage in our politics will be felt for generations to come,” Sen. Sheehy wrote on X.
“He dedicated his life to supporting the next generation of leaders and getting young people involved in government,” Gov. Gianforte wrote.
Mitchell, for his part, said he plans to remain involved in Turning Point. He thinks there are plenty of people motivated to keep the organization running.
“I don’t know who the next Charlie’s gonna be,” Mitchell said. “I think everybody’s wondering and asking that question, but I don’t think (his death) is gonna stop anything. It’s just gonna motivate more people.”