A Brief History of Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA
Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, speaks before former President Donald Trump’s arrival during a Turning Point USA Believers Summit conference at the Palm Beach Convention Center on July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/TNS)
Many students at Elmhurst University have heard of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) before. According to TPUSA, the organization has a presence at over 3,500 schools. Elmhurst University approved its own TPUSA chapter on April 2, a decision that quickly drew student backlash.
A lot of students have strong feelings either opposing or favoring the organization, but for those who don’t know what to think about it — or why people feel so strongly — this article is to break down what it is.
Charlie Kirk grew up in Prospect Heights, Illinois, roughly 30 minutes from Elmhurst University’s campus. Kirk was raised in a moderately conservative, Presbyterian household and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout while a member of the Boy Scouts of America. While attending Wheeling High School, Kirk grew interested in conservative values and media.
Kirk applied to the United States Military Academy, West Point, but was denied. After attending one semester of classes at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, Kirk withdrew from enrollment to focus on creating what would eventually become TPUSA.
Kirk met Bill Montgomery, who would become his mentor, after speaking at Benedictine University’s Youth Government Day. Montgomery was a Peoria, Illinois, native and a Tea Party-backed political candidate who immediately took a liking to Kirk.
Though not officially recognized as co-founder by the organization, Montgomery did claim a role in the creation of TPUSA. Montgomery died on July 28, 2020, due to COVID-19-related complications.
The nonprofit organization was officially founded in 2012, with Kirk assuming the title of executive director. The organization’s mission statement is “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,” which is in line with traditional conservative political values.
Throughout Kirk’s career as executive director, he would travel to different college and university campuses to debate students on political topics. The debates would be filmed and posted on the internet, promoting the organization. These videos would receive a lot of engagement across various social media platforms, and between 2015 and 2017 — leading up to and following the 2016 presidential election — TPUSA’s annual profit grew from roughly $2 million to about $8 million a year, according to ProPublica.
The debate clips TPUSA would post on the internet typically revolved around polarizing topics. Kirk was outspoken against recognizing the existence of transgender people and did not believe that same-sex marriage was morally right, often citing his Christian faith as the basis of his beliefs. He was critical of the separation of church and state, and was also strongly against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives.
Kirk also made it clear that he, as well as TPUSA as a whole, did not support gun control legislation.
“I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” he said.
In 2016, Kirk launched TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist,” which had the intent of limiting left-leaning political bias in classrooms. Descriptors like “Antifa,” “Socialism,” and “LGBTQ” were used as a right-wing version of “cancel culture” towards educators. Currently, the watchlist website is disabled and “undergoing maintenance.”
Many of these professors faced daily harassment after their names were put on the list. Many have also been suspended or even fired.
Kirk worked very closely with the Trump administration as well as other Republican Party activists throughout Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns, eventually working directly with Trump from the beginning of his current term until Kirk’s death.
Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an outdoor TPUSA debate at Utah Valley University (UVU). During Kirk’s last moments, a UVU student attending the debate asked, “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” Kirk’s last words, in response to the student, were, “Including or not including gang violence?” Kirk’s salary at the time of his death was estimated to be more than $407,000 a year.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has since taken over as the CEO of TPUSA, and in the weeks following Kirk’s assassination, TPUSA reported over 121,000 requests from college and high school students nationwide to start a chapter or get involved with an existing chapter.
