Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, continued its national tour of college campuses on Wednesday evening, stopping at Virginia Tech ahead of a pivotal election for the state.
The “American Comeback Tour” event – headlined by conservative media pundit Megyn Kelly and Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin – celebrated Kirk and highlighted his affinity to debate with civility.
Youngkin told the crowd that while a sniper’s bullet tried “to silence all of us but you see the exact opposite is happening.”
“There is a revival spreading across this great nation, a revival spreading across this great nation that is spreading out while it points up to who’s in charge. This is so awesome,” he said.
Kelly spoke to the hesitance some may have felt in attending the event so soon following Kirk’s assassination and thanked attendees for showing up. “In this particular circumstance, showing up is courageous given what happened to Charlie,” she said. “But I think we all came for the same reason.”
“Really, the reason is the message that we will not be silenced by an assassin’s bullet, by a heckler’s veto, by a left-wing woke professor or anyone who tries to silence us from saying what we really believe. Those days are done,” she said.
While taking questions from the audience, Kelly got into a spirited back-and-forth with an attendee who challenged her support of President Donald Trump, arguing that the president “contributes to the rhetoric that got your friend Charlie killed.”
“This guy was motivated by leftist ideology,” Kelly said of Kirk’s shooter, before defending Trump’s comments at Kirk’s memorial service – where he said, “I hate my opponent” – as being a self-deprecating “joke.”
The former Fox News anchor advised young conservatives to engage and listen to those with opposing views, but to also “find your courage” and “stand up for your principles.”
“Why are we so afraid? Because we are indoctrinated for the first 25 years of our lives in leftist institutions that try to make us little leftists, or at least afraid, scared, cowering conservatives who don’t want anyone to know,” she told the audience. “Let it out. Stay loud, say it proud. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s beautiful. Stop hiding it. Stand up for what you believe in. Be respectful of the other side, just like Charlie was.”
Virginia Tech’s Burruss Auditorium was nearly full for the event. Outside the venue, a small group of counter-protesters peacefully demonstrated and held signs that read “Hokies don’t hate” and “hate has no home here,” according to CNN-affiliate WDBJ.
Virginia Tech pre-law student Philip Hamilton told CNN that one of his friends decided against attending Wednesday’s event because she was “scared” and nervous to be in a large crowd following Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University. But Hamilton told CNN he felt “it was important to show up” and honor Kirk. “I told her, we shouldn’t live in fear. We should stand up and show we can continue on life as normal,” he said.
Despite the grief she felt upon learning of Kirk’s death, Hannah Mortimer, a Virginia Tech alum, told CNN that she feels “more hopeful than I ever felt before” about the state of the nation.
“That’s the crazy thing. I think, even as a Christian, I look at the impact that his life is having on a generation,” she said, adding, “We’re seeing just an awakening in this generation, where people are being more bold about their faith, more bold about who they are, just like Charlie.”
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