How Charlie Kirk influenced young conservatives in Georgia

For many young conservatives in Georgia, Charlie Kirk was a key figure of their childhood.

Chaston Adkins, a junior political science major at the University of Georgia and chair of the Georgia Association of College Republicans, said he remembers watching Kirk’s videos as a middle-schooler and being inspired to get more involved in the political process.

Adkins, a 20-year-old Dalton native, likened the loss to losing Fred Rogers, longtime TV host of the children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

“He’s been someone who’s been there for half of our lives, pretty much,” Adkins said. “He’s been that constant political and cultural influence that’s just been there, and now that he’s gone, it’s a gut blow.”

Kirk, 31, was speaking Wednesday at an appearance at Utah Valley University hosted by Turning Point USA, the nonprofit political organization he co-founded to engage young conservatives. He was shot while on stage in what is being called a political assassination.

Conservatives saw Kirk as a figure who welcomed debate from all sides of the political spectrum, however critics point out that had a history of making racist, sexist, antitransgender and antisemitic comments.

Carson Earnest, 26, a former member of the Georgia Tech Turning Point Action chapter, said Kirk left a lasting impact on conservative students.

“I think once Charlie came about and started this huge movement, it kind of brought a lot of college Republicans into the mix and gave them a motivation to get more involved in activism and have these conversations with people they may not necessarily agree with,” said Earnest, who graduated from Georgia Tech in 2021.

Connor Land, 26, who co-founded the Turning Point Action chapter at Georgia Tech in 2019 and later had it officially recognized by the school in 2020, said he’s deeply saddened by Kirk’s death but that he died doing what he loved, “taking his message of civil political discourse directly to those that disagreed with him.”

Kirk built a national profile by targeting college students with his Christian and right-wing views. That was the audience Richard Suplita, a former University of Georgia psychology professor, and Athens resident James Smith said they wanted to reach, too.

Suplita, carrying a flag that read “Jesus Is Our Only Hope,” had been shouting for only a couple of minutes near the UGA Arch on Thursday morning when a woman, without breaking stride, told him to be quiet.

“These are the ideas that got Charlie Kirk killed,” Suplita shot back. “She walks away because she’s an intellectual coward.”

Suplita and Smith said they went to The Arch because it felt like the most fitting place to be after Kirk’s shooting.

“We want to make the Gospel known to people on college campuses,” Smith said.

The men got into a debate with a student about gun rights and abortion. The exchange remained civil, if pointed. Suplita said that was why he often stations himself near Sanford Stadium on football Saturdays or downtown outside bars.

“Let’s go where people disagree with us,” he said, “ask them what they believe and why, give them a chance to articulate and defend their position, and ask them some questions.”

Republican state Reps. Houston Gaines, 30, and Mitchell Horner, 31, are both around the same age as Kirk.

When Gaines was in college at the University of Georgia, he said there was a “loud minority of very vocal, far-left students.” It made him feel isolated and uncomfortable having a different political perspective.

Gaines said Kirk “basically helped build this movement that’s made being conservative and young cool again.”

Horner, who said he took some classes at Dalton State University, felt there were limits to free speech on campus.

“In our generation, we knew that a lot of professors were left-leaning. We would write our papers left-leaning just so we could get better grades,” he said. “What you see with the Charlie Kirk movement is a challenging of this authority.”

Jacquelyn Harn, chair of the Georgia Young Republicans, said several of her sorority sisters blocked her in 2020 when she announced she would be working for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in 2020. It was upsetting that her different political beliefs could end a friendship.

Kirk, she said, represented the opposite.

“He was engaging in dialogue with people,” she said. “His nature and the way that he behaved and the way that he conducted himself inspired a lot of young conservatives.”

However, not all college students agree that campuses are hostile to conservatives.

Hari Jayasankar, who is studying computer engineering at Georgia Tech, said the school creates an open environment from political discussions.

“There is free speech, people speaking on both sides, and no one is persecuted for their beliefs,” Jayasankar said.

For UGA sophomore JT Marshburn, Kirk was a larger-than-life figure at the center of the political conversation most of his life. Marshburn chairs the College Republican National Committee and recalled Kirk’s visit to Athens last year.

“He came here and took questions from both sides of the aisle. Even if he didn’t agree with them, he respected them,” Marshburn said. “He did politics right.”

He said many College Republicans are still reeling from the assassination. But he also emphasized efforts to cool tensions. A Democratic student leader dialed him up on Thursday to discuss ways to deescalate.

“We all saw a man we looked up to murdered in cold blood. Assassinated. Wiped out from the face of the earth by a gunman,” he said. “It was vile. But now we need to lower the temperature.”

Kirk’s death has spurred calls from college students, and others, to end political violence. Kennesaw State University junior Genesis Thompson condemned Wednesday’s shooting.

“People can have different opinions, but they shouldn’t have to die for it,” Thompson said.

In the wake of Kirk’s shooting, Thompson said that if a political speaker comes to KSU, she won’t feel comfortable attending the event.

“It was very brutal — I don’t think we should have been able to see that on the internet,” she said.

Some young Republicans believe Kirk’s shooting will galvanize more younger conservatives to get politically active.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to motivate us to work harder, try and win midterms, try and persevere and set aside all infighting and bickering,” Adkins said.

Adkins said Kirk’s legacy will endure in the state and the nation.

“He has left a lasting mark on young people, especially conservative young people.”

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(Staff reporter Greg Bluestein contributed to this article.)