JD Vance pens heartfelt tribute to Charlie Kirk after assassination: ‘You ran a good race, my friend’

Turning Point USA founder introduced Vance to Trump campaign team and advocated for VP nomination

‘Hannity’ shares President Donald Trump’s statement from the Oval Office after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination on a college campus.

Vice President JD Vance shared a deeply personal remembrance of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University. In a lengthy post on X, Vance honored his late friend as a man of “courage,” “faith” and profound loyalty.

Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, was a close confidant of Vance’s both personally and politically. Their friendship stretched from early skepticism about Donald Trump in 2016 to the heights of the 2024 campaign trail.

Vance’s candid social media reflection gave a rare glimpse into Kirk’s influence not only on the conservative movement but also on the very formation of the Trump-Vance team.

“Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind,” wrote the vice president. “Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives.”

Charlie Kirk and JD Vance greet supporters at the end of a campaign rally on May 1, 2022, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. (Drew Angerer)

“Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr.”

Kirk, a longtime advocate for young people in the conservative movement, was described by Vance as pivotal to President Trump’s decision-making process in his selection as running mate in 2024.

“When I became the VP nominee—something Charlie advocated for both in public and private—Charlie was there for me… Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers,” Vance added.

Charile Kirk and his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve and their two children at Christmas in December 2024. (Charlie Kirk via Facebook)

He also highlighted the father-of-two’s strong faith in Christ, saying, “Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.”

His “true” friendship and loyalty were valued by Vance, with the vice president recalling Kirk as “a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.”

Vance also credited Kirk with helping power the Trump movement in 2024, noting that “so much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk speaks during a campaign rally for then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Desert Diamond Arena on August 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

After reports came out Wednesday afternoon, the vice president said he spoke with President Trump about Kirk candidly.

“I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, ‘I know he was a very good friend of yours.’ I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family,” said Vance. “The president was right.”

“I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot,” recalled Vance.

“God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly.”

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“You ran a good race, my friend. We’ve got it from here,” Vance concluded.

In a resurfaced video, Kirk once said he wanted to be remembered “for courage, for my faith.” For those now mourning, that legacy is exactly how he will be remembered.