Tribute to Charlie Kirk Inspires Grieving Fans, Debate at CSU

Students and fans of Charlie Kirk rememberd the slain conservative influencer during a vigil and then a debate at Colorado State University on Thursday, September 18, the day that Kirk had been scheduled to visit the Fort Collins campus to debate students.

“The worst thing they could have done was to kill this man,” said Andrew Wommack, the founder of one of the longest-running Bible education networks who was supposed to host Kirk in Woodland Park on September 11, the day after he was shot. “They didn’t kill the message, and I believe millions of people are rising up to continue his voice.”

The vigil attracted about 7,500 people to Canvas Stadium to hear speeches by conservative and Christian figures and put flowers, candles and crosses around pictures of Kirk. Many people wore red MAGA hats and brought American flags. Others donned white caps with a gold “47” (for President Donald Trump in his second term) and white shirts with the word “Freedom” written across the chest, which Kirk had been wearing when he was shot and killed on September 10 at a Utah campus while on the start of a college tour.

Nearly all of the speakers at Kirk’s vigil were conservatives from Colorado, including Heidi Ganahl, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate and founder of the Rocky Mountain Voice; Isabel Brown, a CSU alum and popular commentator; and Aurora native Will Witt, who gained fame by debating people on campuses like Kirk. Both Brown and Witt came up through Kirk’s nonprofit Turning Point USA, founded to recruit college students into conservative politics.

“He was a man of faith, a man of America, a man of family, someone that inspired millions of people across this country,” Witt said. “It will be incredibly easy to sit around, wallow in fear and do nothing…. To fix America, you must love and act according to goodness and faith, and try and destroy evil.”

Security was tight at the stadium, as well as at the vigil that followed. A few dozen armed law enforcement officers were stationed on rooftops and throughout the stadium concourses, tunnels and entrances, several with dogs sniffing backpacks and bags. The campus had “game-day” security, with metal detectors and security checking bags.

During the debate, emotional and heated arguments broke out between Bonnell and the audience, especially over the topic of which political side was inciting more violence, the left or the right.

“As a Black man, one thing I noticed about Charlie Kirk’s death is there wasn’t rioting in the streets like there was after George Floyd,” a student said to Donnell, which prompted loud applause and shouting from the audience. “The radical left ideology has been influencing this country for the past twenty years.”

Both the vigil and debate attracted more than just CSU students. Denver native Colin Schmidt had planned to drive up to Fort Collins to hear Kirk speak, but when he was killed, “it was one of the worst things…it makes you realize where we are in this country and how volatile everything is,” he said. He went to the vigil “celebrate his legacy,” Schmidt added.

“Him dying as a man is a tragedy, but what it represents for this country is scary,” Schmidt said. “He inspired me or empowered me to share my voice. I felt empowered by his messages and his being fearless and going into opposing territory and spreading his message.”

Friends Brittany Bellinger and Elena Alexander, students at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, drove two hours to attend Kirk’s vigil and the debate afterward. They have been fans of his videos and messaging for a few years, they said, and had planned to attend his appearance before he was killed.

“I’m pretty young. I don’t know that much about politics. I wanted to educate myself on both sides,” Bellinger said. “But for me, Charlie spoke about Jesus, and I think that’s what everybody needs right now. He represented Jesus super well, and he was killed because his voice of god was powerful.”

Alexander was in a woodshop class when she saw the news of Kirk’s death, “and we just stood up and asked, ‘What do we do now?’,” she recalled. Kirk’s values of “god, faith, family” were the reason that she supported him; she said she believes his death will motivate people to stand up for their beliefs.

“It was definitely what this generation needed,” Alexander added. “It really did unleash all these voices now. Now we have the courage to speak up.”

Kirk’s religious views were also the reason why Julia Vroom, a CSU student, had been listening to his podcast for a long time. As a young Black woman, she added, she also liked his views on race.

“I saw his death as ‘we lost a brother in Christ,'” Vroom says. “I love his ideas about family first. I believe keeping family at the center of the nation is going to save it. With a certain percentage of Black dads not in the family and just with single parents in general, I think that’s what’s needed.”

Vroom was hoping to ask Kirk for his thoughts on the death penalty. She hasn’t finalized her opinion on the issue yet, she said, adding that “I don’t believe we can support the death penalty and abortion at the same time.” She’s pro-life, but wanted Kirk to help her reconcile that with the question of when it’s right to take a life.

Kirk had connections to Colorado through his appointment to an oversight board for the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs; his widow, Erika Kirk, attended Regis University. On September 18, Turning Point USA announced that Erika would take over as CEO in Kirk’s place.