Get involved

On October 29, 2025, just seven weeks after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, his widow, Erika Kirk, along with United States Vice President JD Vance, addressed roughly 10,000 people at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

The event – booked months in advance – had been scheduled to be part of Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) American Comeback Tour. However, in light of Charlie Kirk’s murder on September 10, it looked quite different than originally planned.

Instead of Charlie Kirk, who founded TPUSA in 2012, taking questions beneath his famous “Prove Me Wrong” tent, his grieving widow and their close friend took to the stage on the first stop of the renamed “This is the Turning Point” campus tour.

In her first campus speech as CEO of TPUSA, Erika Kirk took up her husband’s mantle by addressing the issues he was most passionate about – faith, family, patriotism, and activism.

The vice president followed her, reserving most of his time to respond to questions from the crowd in the style of the late TPUSA founder.

The Stand attended the event and offers the following notable moments.

ERIKA KIRK

Comments were primarily aimed at students in attendance, the majority falling within the Gen Z demographic (born roughly between 1997 and 2012). Erika Kirk often addressed Gen Z specifically, frequently referring to them as “the courageous generation.”

“This moment can either be your breaking point or your wake-up call – your turning point, if you will,” Kirk said. “In this moment, every single one of us has a choice to make: whether we stand for freedom or … fall for everything else.”

She added that the hope many are desperately seeking is not found in Washington or in the media.

“It’s right here, all of you,” she said. “Your generation is living at a crossroads, and you are living in one of the most defining moments in American history, and we are all witnessing in real time the battle that is raging for the soul of your generation.”

Count the cost

Kirk encouraged activism. She blamed silence and complacency for the dominance of the progressive movement.

“The Enemy of truth doesn’t need to destroy a nation overnight. He just needs to convince people that truth no longer matters,” she said. “The Enemy thrives when Christians don’t speak up, when citizens don’t vote, and when students don’t think for themselves.”

Kirk said that now is not the time to sit on the sidelines, and if her husband’s assassination did not wake people up, she was not sure what would.

Not shying away from the potential cost associated with getting involved, Kirk declared, “If you are worried about losing a friend, you might.” She added, “I lost my best friend.”

Consider the call

Although Kirk addressed the importance of being involved in efforts to save America, she highlighted the reality that something greater is at stake.

“Yes, this is about America and saving Western civilization,” she said. “But deeper than that, this is about your soul because the fight for freedom starts within – inside of each and every one of you.”

Kirk pointed to God as the true source of freedom, stating, “You cannot have freedom without virtue, and you cannot have virtue without God.”

Further, she pointed to God as the source of any true and lasting change: “You can’t change a nation if you’re enslaved to fear. And you can’t call out corruption if you’re still chained to comfort,” she said. “And you can’t stand for truth if you first do not kneel before the Lord.”

Kirk closed her remarks with a hopeful tone and a call to courage: “This generation will decide if America remembers who she is or if she’ll forget.

“I just want this to be the generation that says we will not apologize for loving our country first,” Kirk added. “We will not be silent about our faith. We will not back down when the world tells us to kneel – because we bow only to the King of Kings.

“I still believe in America. I still believe in her founding. I still believe in her future. I still believe that our nation can heal,” she continued. “But we can’t save a country that we’re too afraid to defend.”

VIce PreSident

JD VANCE

Foregoing prepared remarks, Vice President JD Vance delivered a speech “from the heart.”

He reflected on his friendship with the late TPUSA founder and said the best way he could honor Charlie Kirk’s memory was to continue sharing his advice.

“Charlie wanted all of you … to invest in the things that were worth having, to build a life that was worth building. The most important advice he ever gave you was to fall in love, get married, and start a family,” Vance said. “And I can’t honor Charlie without repeating that most important advice.”

Vance reflected on Charlie Kirk’s influence and legacy, concluding his opening remarks by urging the audience to invest their lives in the future of America.

“If you care about this country, love it enough to get involved in the process and how we govern it,” he said. “That is the only way we are going to save the United States of America.”

Connect through conflict

For the next hour, Vance took questions from the audience, giving preference to those who disagreed with his policies and positions.

The questions varied widely, ranging from curiosity about his faith, to legal immigration, to foreign policy, to concerns about artificial intelligence, to opinions about the use of military force in American cities – among other topics.

Concerning how his faith impacts his role as vice president, Vance said, “I believe that I’ve been placed in this position for a brief period of time to do the most amount of good for God and for the country that I love so much.”

Later, as he discussed the role of Christianity in America, Vance said, “I think the fruits of the Christian faith are the most moral, the most just, and the most prosperous civilization in history. I make no apologies for believing that Christianity is the pathway to God. I make no apologies for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country.”

On the hot-button issue of immigration, Vance acknowledged and expressed respect for those “who have come here through lawful immigration pathways that have contributed to the country.”

However, he defended his view that even legal immigration numbers should be decreased.

“There are too many people who want to come to the United States of America, and my job as vice president is not to look out for the interests of the whole world; it’s to look out for the people of the United States,” Vance said.

The vice president concluded his remarks with a final call for engagement.

“If you disagree with something, then get involved in the movement to save this country,” Vance said. “If you think that we could be doing more, then pick up the phone and get involved in the effort to change our minds, and change the future of the United States of America in the process.”