Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk defended Republican influencers and politicians who are “riling things up” and “wanting to seek truth” from the Republican Party.
Kirk appeared at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, substituting for her late husband, Charlie Kirk, who was initially slated for a discussion with New York Times editor Andrew Ross Sorkin. Over 12 weeks ago, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event for Turning Point USA, and Erika Kirk was announced as CEO and chairwoman of the board soon after.
Sorkin asked Kirk what she liked about the Republican Party as part of the final discussion of the summit on Wednesday. Turning Point USA is credited for boosting Republican candidates, most notably President Donald Trump, across the country, particularly among younger voters. Kirk said she supports the “infighting” happening, even at times against Trump.
“What I love about our party is that we have a common thread of wanting to seek truth,” Kirk said. “What I find interesting about our party is that right now there is a lot of shuffling and mixing up, and I feel like when things are shuffling and mixing up, they’re falling into place in a different way.”
“When there’s infighting just in general — I’m not talking about extensively just politicians, I’m talking about just in general, whether that’s influencers, whether that’s other voices within the Right — there’s a lot of uprising,” Kirk added.
There are many examples Kirk could have been referring to. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced her intention to resign from Congress after a public spat with Trump.
Additionally, there has been an exodus of staffers at the Heritage Foundation after the conservative think tank’s president, Kevin Roberts, said that “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic.” Talk show host Tucker Carlson was under fire for interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Even earlier during the interview, Kirk admitted she has disagreed with Trump, citing that “he can’t forgive” as an example.
Within her own organization, there is a battle. Talk show host Candace Owens, who claims to have traveled the most with Kirk’s late husband for TPUSA campus events, has spurred her own investigation into the September assassination. The controversy surrounding Owens and the Heritage Foundation prompted Sorkin to interrupt and ask, “Is this the Nick Fuentes-Tucker Carlson debate we’re talking about?”
“I’m talking about everything,” Kirk said. “Ever since Charlie was murdered, there has been conversation across the whole right side of who believes this, what believes that, where are we standing on behalf of, you know, where is the youth going this direction. It’s a conversation that’s being had that is, again, uncomfortable and riling things up, but I think it’s healthy because once you have those conversations, then you come to a full point, and maybe it takes a little while, but usually you come to a point of understanding of this is what we believe in.”
“I think it’s good to have in-home arguments,” Kirk said. “It irons some things out. I think it’s important.”
Turning Point announced on Wednesday, hours before Kirk took the stage, that it would be hosting a livestream on Monday featuring “a collection of Charlie’s friends will respond to statements made by @RealCandaceO to set the record straight once and for all.”
Owens criticized the sudden announcement on X.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Greene, Owens, Tucker, and the Heritage Foundation for comment.
Kirk encouraged young women not to “put off having a family or a marriage because you’re relying on the government to support you” when asked about her stance at the summit hosted in New York. Before marrying her husband at 33, Kirk explained she was once a Manhattan resident and “loved this city.”
“I think there’s a tendency, especially when you live in a city like Manhattan, where, again, you are so career-driven, and you almost look to the government as a form of replacement for certain things, relationship-wise even,” Kirk said.
Kirk added that New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani largely won over young women.
“What I don’t want to have happen is young women in the city, look to the government as a solution to put off having a family or a marriage because you’re relying on the government to support you, instead of being united with a husband where you can support yourself and your husband can support you and you can guys all combine together,” Kirk added.
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Mamdani won just over 50% of the vote in New York, while his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, won 67% of the vote, and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won the city with 70% of the vote during last year’s presidential election.
According to an ABC News exit poll, Mamdani swept the majority of voters who have lived in New York for less than five years, with 8 in 10 voting for him. However, a majority of voters who have lived in the city for over 10 years voted for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.