JJ News Desk
At 18, he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative student organization aimed at influencing liberal-leaning college campuses. Today, TPUSA has chapters at more than 850 colleges across the U.S.
Charlie Kirk dropped out of Harper College, a community college near Chicago, to pursue political activism full-time.
He grew up in Prospect Heights, a Chicago suburb. His father was an architect, and his mother worked as a mental health counselor.
During the 2024 presidential election cycle, Kirk helped register thousands of new voters in his home state of Arizona, which flipped from blue in 2020 to red in 2024.
His wife, Erika Frantzve, was Miss Arizona in 2012. The couple had two kids together.
Between 2020 and 2025, he hosted a three-hour daily radio show, The Charlie Kirk Show, on Salem Media’s “The Answer.” By 2024, the show’s podcast was downloaded 500,000 to 750,000 times per day, according to a TPUSA spokesperson.
Kirk was an advocate for Second Amendment rights. During a debate, he argued, "A well-armed citizenry is the greatest protector of liberty and freedom in this country."