The widow of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist assassinated on a college campus last week, was unanimously elected on Thursday as the new CEO of a group her late husband founded to galvanize young voters to Republican causes.
The election of Erika Kirk by Turning Point USA's board comes at a time when the future of the organization and its role in turning out young voters in next year's congressional midterm elections has come under intense scrutiny since Kirk's murder.
The group became a multimillion-dollar operation under Charlie Kirk, and was credited with helping President Donald Trump return to office.
Trump himself has credited Charlie Kirk with helping him boost young voter turnout and win the White House.
"Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA," the board announced.
"In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death," it said.
Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing a single rifle shot from a rooftop that killed Kirk, 31, during a campus event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
In a video address after Kirk's murder, Erika, 36, said she would uphold her late husband’s work. "The movement my husband built will not die," she told reporters.
"You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife, the cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry," she said.
Following the assassination, Trump ordered flags to fly at half staff, and Vice President JD Vance flew to collect Kirk's body from Utah in a highly unusual display of official grief for a civilian.
The shooting also laid bare the divisions in American society, with conservatives organizing to punish anyone they deemed was not being sufficiently respectful of Kirk's death.
There have been multiple reports of people being fired after they made social media posts that cheered his death or mocked Kirk.
Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday became the latest scalp when the ABC network said it was suspending his "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show indefinitely.
That came after conservatives took umbrage at comments Kimmel made about the motive of the alleged shooter, and after the federal government threatened to pull broadcast licenses from channels that did not take a stand against him.
