Charlie Kirk’s name seemed to be everywhere last week as his supporters streamed into a park in the suburban city of Mesa, Ariz., to urge voters to recall Julie Spilsbury, a Republican city councilwoman who endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024.
Cars had “Justice for Charlie Kirk” scrawled on the windows. Posters were emblazoned with Mr. Kirk’s face. T-shirts declared, “I am Charlie,” or simply said “Freedom” — evoking the white shirt that Mr. Kirk was wearing when he was fatally shot last month at a Utah college.
The recall was one of the last campaigns that Mr. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point U.S.A. and its political arm Turning Point Action, had been involved in before his killing, a Turning Point staff member told dozens of people gathered in the park. Now, the race has become a polarizing test of whether Turning Point can exert its right-wing, pro-Trump agenda without Mr. Kirk at the helm.
“You guys are the ones doing the tennis shoes-and-clipboard work that Charlie would’ve been out doing with us today,” Brett Galaszewski, a Turning Point organizer, told dozens of Turning Point staff members and volunteers who shared bagels and prayers before heading out to knock on doors.
“I can’t think of a better way to honor that life and legacy,” he added.
The death of Mr. Kirk and the determination of his organization to show it still has muscle have helped to transform a tiny local race into a bitter fight infused with the acrimony of national politics.
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