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ANALYSIS: Former TPUSA staffers credit Kirk with jumpstarting their political careers
Charlie Kirk’s legacy lives on today in the numerous former staffers and activists who owe their political career to their time at Turning Point USA. The College Fix spoke to five former employees and student activists who credited the late founder, assassinated one year ago today, for helping them start and advance in politics. All said that Kirk simply believing in them and giving them a chance has continued to pay off, even a decade later after most left the organization for other opportunities.
Kirk lit a “spark” in the conservative movement, Stephen Rowe told The College Fix during a phone interview. Now a program director for Cato Courses at the Cato Institute, Rowe started as a student leader at Montana State University in 2015.
He then joined the headquarters team in the northern suburbs of Illinois.
“I worked outside of the Barrington office for TPUSA for one calendar year roughly speaking (give or take a week) and had some amazing adventures,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. I was also the first emcee at their ‘Winter in West Palm Beach’ which became the student national summit.”
“It was just an amazing opportunity, being employed by Turning Point for one full year, from essentially August 2015 to about September 2016,” Rowe shared.
He said his experience running Turning Point’s news site helped him with his current job, where he uses Cato’s online platform to promote the ideals of liberty to young people.
Rowe also named some stars created by Turning Point under Kirk’s leadership, citing Daily Wire commentator Isabel Brown as one example. He also named Julio Rosas, a former Turning Point warehouse employee turned writer, who has gained prominence covering riots and border enforcement.
“What Charlie allowed for at that stage were so many young people who had a flickering spark struck at just the right age due to his inspiration, due to his speeches, due to his commitment to the principles of liberty,” Rowe said. “And because that spark was struck, it has now allowed them to light the rest of their lives.”
Others credited Turning Point with giving them direction and opportunities – something not always easy for a fresh high school graduate.
“Honestly when you’re in high school it’s pretty daunting to try to navigate what you want to do afterwards, so hearing about Turning Point couldn’t have come at a more perfect time,” Caleb Franz told The Fix during a phone interview.
He volunteered as an ambassador and activist, representing the group at various events. “That’s where I really got connected with so many people,” he said. “They’ve all had a measurable impact on my life.”
No doubt that includes his wife Danielle, CEO of the American Conservation Coalition.
He is now a program manager for Young Voices.
‘I really can’t think of where I would be in this space if it wasn’t for Charlie Kirk‘
Others were brought together through Turning Point, leading to lasting business partnerships.
Thomas Hern joined Turning Point in 2015 along with a wave of hires, working as a field director in Ohio. He started chapters throughout Ohio, was promoted to state director, and then became deputy national field director working out of Turning Point’s headquarters until the end of 2017.
He now runs H&F Strategies, a “digital and political consulting” firm. “Without Charlie giving me that boost,” Hern (pictured, right) said, “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to start my own business and branch off onto my own.”
In that role he works with Tex Fischer, a former Ohio field director. Fischer (pictured, left) started at Turning Point USA with just a high school degree. He is now a state legislator in Ohio.
Fischer told The Fix how his job morphed from voter registration to regional field director for Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in the space of about two and a half years from 2015 to 2017.
“I really can’t think of where I would be in this space if it wasn’t for Charlie Kirk,” Ohio Legislator, Tex Fischer, explained to The Fix in a phone interview.
“The different people who have helped me along the way were almost entirely people I met directly or indirectly connected to Charlie and Turning Point,” he said. “Not just on a professional level, but on a personal level too, I think he’s kind of touched every aspect of my career and my life since meeting him.”
“Charlie was one of the first people to give me a job in politics,” Fischer said. “Without Charlie giving me that boost, and then believing in me, I wouldn’t have been able to start my own business – Charlie was essential to it.”
Kirk also helped Devon Mirsky, now a development officer for Accuracy in Media.
“I was TPUSA’s first California Field Representative, and then I became the Pacific West Regional Manager,” Mirsky told The Fix in a phone interview.
“He really helped me connect politics with culture and that’s been really important in every job since,” Mirsky said. She later worked for PragerU and on political campaigns.
She noted Charlie’s belief in her as a manager, which afforded her valuable organizational and leadership skills for life.
‘Worst days of my life’: staffers reflect on assassination news
“Honestly, it didn’t really feel real,” Fischer told The College Fix, answering questions about responses to Kirk’s assassination.
Reflecting on the past, he noted that, “it was just a very confusing day. I spent several hours hoping and praying for a miracle, and then the miracle didn’t come, and I just kind of sat there, and wasn’t really sure what to feel.”
“Charlie touched me in such profound ways,” Fischer said, “and it’s very strange to quantify how it felt (to know he had been killed) because there were just a lot of memories. It was a lot – an overload – I’ll put it that way.”
Franz, with Young Voices, said: “It was still something that you just never expect to really experience.”
Although Franz had not had the chance to speak with Kirk for several years, he explained to The Fix, “I always held Charlie in very high regard.”
Summing up his reflection on assassination day, he added:
It felt very uniquely dark. Not only because someone I had known for so long was killed, but also what he represented. It’s almost like the death of the conversation – the death of that element of speech. It’s not to say that it can’t still have a comeback in some way, but it was revealing to me that there are people that would prefer to resort to killing rather than to speak with one another.
Thomas Hern, the political consultant, echoed the dark feelings that day.
“I was devastated,” Hern said.
“One of the worst days of my life,” he said. “And it’s been difficult since then to leave someone who was not just a friend but also such an important figure in our movement.”
Stephen Rowe’s wife broke the shocking news to him.
“The worst part about it all,” Rowe recalled, “was that when you looked online at the time of it happening, so many people were cheering, so many people were celebrating, so many people were happy.”
Aside from a feeling of shock, Stephen also told The Fix about a conviction he felt upon learning about Charlie Kirk’s assassination – a call to keep the fire burning.
“We cannot let this flame fade away, and in fact we need to carry this torch strongly and proudly for the next generation of Americans, and humans across the world.”
