WASHINGTON — In a vote that divided Democrats, the House on Friday passed a resolution honoring slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and rejecting the political violence of recent years.
The vote was 310-58, with more than 90 Democrats joining all Republicans in voting yes on the nonbinding resolution. The 58 no votes all came from Democrats, and another 38 Democrats voted present.
It came nine days after a gunman assassinated the 31-year-old Kirk while he was speaking to a large crowd at Utah Valley University. Kirk was a co-founder of Turning Point USA, which helped turn out the youth vote for Donald Trump in 2024. The alleged shooter has been charged on seven counts, including aggravated murder.
While all lawmakers have denounced Kirk’s killing, some Democrats had wanted the party to make a more forceful stand against the Kirk resolution, which, among other things, states that his “commitment to civil discussion and debate stood as a model for young Americans across the political spectrum, and he worked tirelessly to promote unity without compromising on conviction.”
While few spoke out against the resolution publicly before the vote, critics have pointed out that Kirk had disparaged Martin Luther King Jr., called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake” and was a vocal opponent of transgender rights.
“As a Black woman, the verbal assault on so many Black women coming out of his mouth stunned me,” Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., told NBC News, citing Kirk’s past comments questioning the intelligence of former first lady Michelle Obama, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and others. “He insulted so many. This country stands on the shoulders of Black women.”
The issue has not only split Democrats, but also progressive leaders in the party. Rep. Jamie Raskin, of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and a leading progressive voice on Capitol Hill, voted in favor of the resolution. He said that he didn’t agree with every phrase in it, but that this is a moment for both parties to come together.
“In general, the statement opposes and deplores political violence, and we need to oppose and denounce political violence across the board, in every case, regardless of the victim, regardless of the perpetrator,” Raskin told reporters. “We just have to think about what it means for one of our fellow citizens to lose his life to political violence.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., an immigrant and a leader of the Progressive Caucus who has been an outspoken critic of Kirk, said after his death that it’s “effed up” that people have described Kirk as “just wanting to have a civil debate.”
Friday’s vote ends an emotional and tense week on Capitol Hill as members grappled with Kirk’s death. Earlier in the week, the House narrowly rejected a separate GOP resolution to censure Omar and strip her of her committee assignments for criticizing Kirk.
The broader five-page resolution, sponsored by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was discussed during House Democrats’ closed-door caucus meeting Thursday. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told rank-and-file members that he and members of his leadership team would vote yes on the Kirk resolution, according to three Democratic sources in the room.
But Jeffries advised members that they could make up their own minds and vote their conscience, given that it’s such a unique situation, the sources in the room said.
“The resolution is very down the middle and straightforward,” said a Democratic aide familiar with leadership’s approach to the matter.
The resolution condemns Kirk’s assassination, offers condolences to his family and praises him as a “courageous American patriot” who peacefully debated his critics in public.
It honored Kirk for “engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic”; exercising his First Amendment rights with “honor, courage, and respect for his fellow Americans”; and working “tirelessly to promote unity without compromising on conviction.”
In addition, the resolution also calls upon all political leaders to “stand united in unequivocal condemnation of political violence, regardless of their ideology“ and calls on “all Americans — regardless of race, party affiliation, or creed — to reject political violence, recommit to respectful debate, uphold American values, and respect one another as fellow Americans.”
Kirk’s funeral will be held Sunday in Arizona. The president and other major Republican leaders are expected to attend.
In a floor speech honoring Kirk, Johnson said the activist was “never motivated by hatred” for his political opponents.
“And so even though he could defeat anybody in a debate so often — and I saw this myself when he would vanquish someone in a policy argument — he was the first person after that to reach out a hand of friendship or offer an arm around the shoulder of someone who he had just defeated in a contest,” Johnson said.
“Why? Because it wasn’t about winning … the policy arguments. It was about the people,” he said. “And Charlie loved vigorous debate, but he loved people more.”
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