A memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona on Sunday is ready to function President Trump, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and greater than half a dozen high Trump administration figures addressing what may very well be an NFL-size crowd at State Farm Stadium.
Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed as he spoke at an occasion at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. A 22-year-old suspect has been charged with aggravated homicide.Â
Kirk’s assassination has rocked the conservative world. A prolific and typically controversial speaker, Kirk was recognized for his faculty campus occasions and debates, his position in mobilizing GOP voters and his shut ties to the Trump administration.
Where is Charlie Kirk’s memorial service happening?
The service will happen at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, close to Phoenix. The stadium, which is residence to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, can usually seat as much as 63,400 folks.Â
Organizers say safety shall be tight, with “TSA-level screening” anticipated.
Federal authorities have designated the memorial service as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) Level 1 occasion, a senior Department of Homeland Security official stated. That designation is used for “vital occasions with nationwide and/or worldwide significance that require intensive federal interagency assist,” just like the Super Bowl.
What time is Charlie Kirk’s memorial service?
The service is scheduled to start out at 11 a.m. native time in Arizona, or 2 p.m. ET.
Who will converse at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service?
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are each scheduled to talk, together with the activist’s widow, Erika Kirk, who was named Turning Point USA’s new CEO on Thursday.
Several different administration officers are set to talk, together with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and key Trump aides Stephen Miller and Sergio Gor.
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., can also be listed as a speaker, as is right-wing media character and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.Â
Many of the audio system had intensive private {and professional} ties with the slain activist.Â
Kirk was a stalwart supporter of the president beginning throughout his first marketing campaign in 2016, and he remained allied with Mr. Trump after he left workplace below a cloud of controversy following the Capitol riot in January 2021. In final yr’s presidential race, Kirk’s Turning Point USA was broadly credited with helping the Trump marketing campaign with grassroots voter mobilization.
Kirk was additionally shut with Donald Trump Jr., and labored intently with the youthful Trump as an aide throughout the 2016 marketing campaign. “Charlie wasn’t only a pal — he was like a bit of brother to me,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X.
Vance has credited Kirk with introducing him to Donald Trump Jr. forward of his 2022 Senate marketing campaign, and with advocating “in private and non-private” for the president to decide on Vance as his working mate final yr. Kirk’s physique was flown from Utah to Arizona on Vance’s jet, Air Force Two.Â
Kennedy has referred to as Kirk the “main architect of my unification with President Trump,” referring to the previous Democrat’s determination to drop his impartial marketing campaign for president final yr and publicly endorse Mr. Trump at a Turning Point Action rally.
Several Christian musicians are additionally listed on the program: Chris Tomlin, Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham, Kari Jobe Carnes and Cody Carnes.
Who was Charlie Kirk?
Kirk was the chief of Turning Point USA, a gaggle for younger conservatives that he co-founded in 2012, on the age of 18. A local of the Chicago space, Kirk briefly attended group faculty however dropped out to pursue political activism full-time.
He was a ubiquitous presence in politics: He hosted a day by day discuss radio present and podcast, and he visited scores of school campuses yearly, the place he was recognized for internet hosting rapid-fire debates with left-leaning college students.Â
Kirk continuously drew controversy for his views. He supported Mr. Trump’s false claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election, and his group maintained a “Professor Watchlist” of school instructors accused of spreading “leftist propaganda.”
Turning Point USA says it has chapters at 1000’s of excessive faculties and schools, and the group’s political arm, Turning Point Action, engages in grassroots canvassing.
Kirk was additionally a household man with two younger kids Â
“He was the right father. He was the right husband,” Erika Kirk stated final week in her first public remarks after the taking pictures.
Who is Erika Kirk?
Charlie and Erika Kirk wed in 2021, after they started courting in 2018.
A Phoenix-area native, Erika Kirk gained Miss Arizona USA in 2012, attended Arizona State University and later earned a juris grasp diploma from Liberty University.
She was a frequent presence at Turning Point USA occasions, the place she spoke about politics, faith and her conservative views on household and marriage. She additionally based a clothes line referred to as PROCLAIM and a ministry referred to as BIBLEin365.
During one look on “The Charlie Kirk Show” earlier this yr, Erika Kirk stated she’s extra conservative than her husband.
“Not even shut,” her husband agreed. “I’m a average in comparison with Erika.”
In public remarks two days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Erika Kirk vowed that the “motion my husband constructed won’t die.”
On Thursday, the board of Turning Point USA introduced it had unanimously chosen Erika Kirk to function the group’s new chair and CEO.
How to observe Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
The memorial service shall be livestreamed noon on Sunday.
- What: Public memorial service for Charlie Kirk
- Date: Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025
- Time: 11 a.m. native time; 2 p.m. ET
- Location: State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
- Online stream: Live on CBS News 24/7 in your cell or streaming machine
Note: Streaming plans are topic to alter.
contributed to this report.
