As many as 100,000 mourners are expected to attend the memorial for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk Sunday in Arizona, including President Trump, cabinet officials and right-wing pundits.
The memorial at State Farm Stadium, just outside Phoenix, comes nearly two weeks after Kirk was fatally shot during a speaking event on a Utah university campus. His death ratcheted up political tensions across the country and heightened fears that American politics had entered a dangerous new era.
Trump is expected to speak at the event, as are senior figures in the administration including Vice President JD Vance , Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Former Fox News host turned podcaster Tucker Carlson, as well as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, are slated to speak.
Erika Kirk , who will take her late husband’s place as head of Turning Point USA, is also expected to address the crowds. She has vowed to continue his work of mobilizing young conservatives through tours, podcasts and public events.
“The movement my husband built won’t die,” she said from Charlie Kirk’s podcast studio in the wake of his death. “The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.”
Attendees at the event, which starts at 11 a.m. local time, have been asked to wear their “Sunday Best—Red, White, or Blue,” and to donate to Turning Point USA in lieu of flowers.
Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, 22 years old, faces charges including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Authorities have accused him of fatally shooting Kirk on Sept. 10 from the rooftop of a building on the campus of Utah Valley University, in Orem. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.
Police in Glendale, Ariz., where the stadium is located, said protests are expected at the memorial.
“People have a First Amendment right to their opinion and freedom of speech, and we’re here to protect everyone,” Officer Moroni Mendez of the Glendale Police Department said.
The memorial will have Super Bowl-level security reserved for significant events of national importance. On Friday, a man was arrested at State Farm Stadium after telling Secret Service agents he was armed and falsely claiming to be a law-enforcement officer, police said. Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said in a post on X that he believed the man was doing advanced security for a guest planning to attend Sunday’s memorial.
Kirk, 31 years old, was a standard-bearer of the MAGA movement and has been credited by Trump with building his support among young people and helping ensure his return to office. Trump blamed “radical left political violence” for Kirk’s killing, and conservatives demanded companies fire employees who shared reactions to the shooting that the right found unsympathetic.
The debate around free speech from both sides intensified last week, after Disney indefinitely pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s show off its ABC network over remarks he made about the Kirk shooting.
On his show Monday, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” Kimmel also said, “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
A spokesman for Kimmel said Wednesday the host had no comment.
