Maine schools, churches see growing interest in Turning Point USA after Charlie Kirk’s assassination

One idea seemed to be on everybody’s mind during the Cumberland County Republican Committee’s Friends of Charlie Kirk event on Oct. 21: revival.

Roughly 200 people packed into Calvary Chapel of Greater Portland in Westbrook to learn more about Kirk, the right-wing activist assassinated on Sept. 10, and how the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, is working to expand its footprint in Maine.

Attendees spanned all ages, ranging from teens to seniors, and included Republican gubernatorial candidates Bobby Charles and David Jones.

Travis Carey, senior pastor at Calvary Chapel, led the group in prayer and called Kirk’s work a reminder that there “should not be a gap between politics and the church.”

His church launched a Turning Point chapter in mid-October. And it isn’t alone. At least 20 Turning Point chapters have been established at colleges, high schools and churches across Maine in the less than two months since Kirk’s death. Those involved say they hope to see the groups spur conversations about transgender athletes, abortion, free markets and other conservative policy ideas.

Kirk, who was shot while speaking at a college in Utah, founded Turning Point in 2012 when he was 18 to mobilize young conservatives across American college campuses. His online presence and openness to debate made him an influential figure in conservative politics, with his official memorial in Arizona drawing a crowd of around 100,000 people, and featuring speakers that included President Trump and many of his cabinet members.

In his debates and online videos, Kirk frequently invoked Christianity to oppose transgender rights and urge young women to prioritize marriage and have children before a career. He made a number of statements that provoked backlash, from saying some gun deaths were “worth it” to supporting the “replacement theory,” a once-fringe conspiracy theory positing that non-white immigrants are being planted as part of a plot to limit white Americans’ power, an ideology that motivated several mass shootings in recent years.

While his group started with a focus on college campuses, it has since expanded. In 2021, the organization launched Turning Point Faith, a subset of church-based chapters focused on tying Christianity to American politics. And earlier this year, the organization branched into high schools, under the name Club America.

Club America representative Grace Mack said there are now 18 chapters at high schools in Maine. According to an archived version of the group’s site, before Kirk’s assassination there were just three.

Representatives for Turning Point’s college and faith arms did not return requests for comment on the organization’s growth in Maine. At least four colleges have recently taken steps to organize chapters: Southern Maine Community College established a new chapter in September, while the University of Maine at Orono chapter, which had lapsed, received official recognition from the university in mid-September.

Students have also received recognition from Turning Point for chapters at Thomas College and the University of Maine in Augusta this fall but do not yet have university recognition, organizers at each campus said.

In addition to Calvary Chapel in Westbrook, Calvary Chapel Bangor also formed a chapter, doing so in the week after Kirk’s death. A staff member reported increased church attendance since then.

New Beginnings Church of God in Waterville also launched a faith chapter, one that grew out of a group led by Kristina Parker, the 19-year-old communications director for the Maine GOP. New Beginnings Pastor Alan Imes said a number of other Maine churches have asked for advice on starting their own faith chapters but declined to identify them by name.

Peter Bernaiche, a former Marine who enrolled at Southern Maine Community College to study computer science last spring, said he learned about Kirk a few years ago through work friends. He said he was drawn to Turning Point’s support of free markets, limited government and individual liberty.

After seeing clips of Kirk’s assassination on social media, Bernaiche said he took a few days to process his shock before creating the SMCC chapter, which currently has about a dozen members. A broader southern Maine chapter, also headed by Bernaiche, has almost 40 non-student members.

Bernaiche plans to host regular public debates and meetings for chapter members with a focus on “the goodness of conservative values,” especially on fiscal policy, which he believes will lead to a lower cost of living in the state.

Young voters aged 18 to 29 have historically favored Democrats by wide margins, but that lead has slackened in the past two years, according to Pew Research’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey. Pew found that men ages 18 to 29 now favor Republicans by 18 points.

Maine College Republicans has seen membership double since Kirk’s death, according to the group’s president Zak Asplin. Taylor Grant, president of Maine Young Democrats, said she’s also noticed an uptick in interest for Democratic organizing on college campuses since Kirk’s assassination, but said the party is “decades behind” in creating a unified organization to rally behind.

“Young men today are looking for a purpose,” Bernaiche said, pointing to Kirk’s focus on traditional family structures and becoming leaders in the community as ideas that resonate with him and others.

His chapter at SMCC faced some pushback during its launch. Several students spoke against the organization during a public hearing of the student senate, citing concerns that the group would create a “sense of fear and exclusion” for minority students, according to News Center Maine. However, the chapter met the requirements for recognition and was ultimately approved.

At the October event at Calvary Chapel, speakers told the crowd that Cheverus High School, a Catholic school in Portland, had declined to officially recognize a Club America chapter, encouraging the audience to call the school and “fight for the chapter.” (Cheverus did not return requests for comment.)

Conservative influencers and media organizations have pushed to fire or discipline people who have criticized Kirk since his death. In one case in Maine, a Kennebunk teacher resigned after allegedly making a post on social media criticizing Kirk’s statements on school shootings and the war in Gaza and writing, “Rest in hell, Charlie Kirk,” according to The Portland Press Herald.

Turning Point maintains public watchlists for professors and school boards that espouse views that go against the organization, and it gives report cards to colleges and universities. UMaine and Bowdoin College both received F grades based on factors like requiring diversity, equity and inclusion training for staff and using bias reporting systems. Bowdoin also received low marks for its ratio of right-leaning to left-leaning clubs and failing to require “western civilization” courses.

Some events connected to Turning Point have led to safety concerns. Bowdoin College canceled a vigil planned for Kirk on Sept. 14, citing “external threats” flagged by the Maine State Police, according to reporting by the Bowdoin Orient. The Associated Press reported that a number of people across the U.S. have been arrested since Kirk’s death for threatening violence, both against vigils held for Kirk and against other groups as “revenge” for Kirk’s death.

Turning Point leaders in Maine have described Kirk’s death as the start of a spiritual reawakening. In late September, Parker, the Maine GOP communications director, led a memorial service for about 30 people in the basement of New Beginnings in Waterville, just over a week after the church paid her expenses to attend Kirk’s official memorial service in Arizona.

“We’re having a mini revival, if not a great big revival in America right now,” Parker told the room. She pointed out the Christian music playing in the background of a tribute posted on the White House YouTube channel, calling it a sign that the Trump administration was “stepping up in boldness for the Christian faith.”

Pastors at New Beginnings and Calvary Chapel said they’ve noticed an increase in new faces at their services in the weeks since Kirk’s death, particularly among college-aged people.

Mark Brewer, a professor of political science at UMaine Orono, said in recent decades, denominations aligned with the left have declined as Evangelical Protestant churches aligned with the right have grown, noting that those religious institutions have helped increase conservative influence.

Kirk’s official memorial service in Arizona fit the typical elements of a Christian revival, Brewer said, with energetic speakers using religious imagery to stoke enthusiasm. Brewer said he expects conservatives to “use Kirk as kind of a rallying cry” moving forward to maintain energy and “keep people committed to the cause.”

At this point, Brewer believes Kirk’s legacy is “pretty much set in stone” as a hero for the political right and an incendiary figure for the political left. Even Kirk’s most inflammatory statements, on topics like the replacement theory, transgender health care and his belief that “large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America,” are unlikely to change minds, Brewer said.

“Those ideas have come a long way from the fringe,” Brewer said. “Not only do I think that they are more widely held today, but I also think that it is seen as acceptable to state that you publicly hold those beliefs … We can put a lot of that at the feet of Trump and his allies.”

Carey believes Christians in Maine are feeling emboldened to be “more outspoken for their faith,” he said, noting that he thinks the state’s policies on abortion, gender and cost of living should be addressed from a faith perspective.

Imes, pastor at New Beginnings, said he believes that churches need to get “more involved in the democracy process and the political process,” and cited his opposition to transgender athletes, a key rallying point for conservatives in the past year.

As for Colby DeLapp, a high school student and president of the York County Club America chapter, beyond building community and hosting events like voter registration drives, his hope is to see Christianity take center stage in Maine.

“Really, what’s going to bring the most change in our country and in our state is bringing a revival of Christianity,” DeLapp said during the Oct. 21 event, applauding the choice to hold the event at a church. “Christianity is an American value, and we need to bring that back in our country.”