POLITICS: The California Charlie Kirk loved

This may surprise some, but Charlie Kirk loved California. 

He of course despised the way it is governed, but whenever we visited the Golden State together, he would inevitably say, at least once, “This state is so beautiful. It’s such a shame what they’ve done to it.” His love, however, went far deeper than just the weather or the scenery.

Charlie genuinely loved the people of California, especially the old California families who still populate many of its best communities. 

When he spoke with conservatives there, he did not need to explain the dangers of runaway leftism. The brave conservatives who remained understood all too well what radical socialist, open-border, tax-and-spend policies could do to a beautiful place. 

They had seen progressive governance sow chaos and leave behind deficits, fraud, high crime, and decline. Charlie admired that they were already on his wavelength.

On one trip, after traveling from a deep red state and landing in California, Charlie casually remarked, “The Californians have already been radicalized. They’re like me!” He meant it as the highest compliment. 

Not radicalized in a violent or sinister sense, but awakened and fully aware of what the activist wing of the Democrat Party was capable of and willing to do with power. 

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Californians were not merely debating marginal tax rates, important as those are. They were worried about the state intervening in their families, about employers shutting down under crushing regulations and taxes, and about the erosion of the California culture they loved under endless waves of immigration and change. 

Meanwhile, conservatives in safer red states were too often lulled into complacency, unaware that the same political forces reshaping California were moving steadily in their direction.

Few people know that the largest share of Charlie’s podcast and radio audience was in California. That gave him a unique affection for the conservatives still fighting there. 

At Turning Point Action, much of our focus is understandably on swing states like Arizona and Wisconsin, but his California listeners constantly called and emailed, urging him to devote the same resources to their home. He hated telling them no. 

Yet he loved their resolve and determination to reclaim their state. He always encouraged them to keep fighting, and he maintained close relationships with grassroots leaders, finding creative ways to support them.

Yes, California votes Democrat today. 

But at its spiritual core, something remains that echoes its freer, more energetic, more conservative past. The DNA of liberty is still alive in many of its people. 

Few places have embodied the grandeur of pure, unadulterated Americana quite like California. And when an identity that powerful takes root in the soul of a people, it is not easily extinguished.

Charlie’s legacy is alive and well in the state. Countless TPUSA chapters operate on college campuses across California, and hundreds of Club America chapters have formed in its high schools. 

He spoke and debated at nearly every major university in the state, which continues to produce some of our strongest student leaders. 

When asked by Californians whether they should flee the state or stay and fight, he would usually answer, “I can’t tell you to stay and fight. That’s a decision between you, your family, and your God. But if you stay, fight to win.”

California has not voted Republican for president since 1988. Yet in 2024, President Trump earned more than 40 percent of the vote, a red shift that signals growing momentum among a disaffected and mistreated electorate. 

Charlie proudly endorsed Steve Hilton for governor in what is shaping up to be a very promising jungle primary for conservatives. 

The successful voter ID signature drive stands as a testament to grassroots determination, and Charlie would have been proud of those who made it happen.

Ultimately, that is the core of Charlie’s legacy: showing up and saying yes to do the work required to save your home. Never back down, never surrender, no matter the odds. 

For the better part of a decade, he was told that college campuses were a lost cause. He never believed the naysayers, and in 2024 years of work paid off in the election of President Trump, lifted by a historic swing of young voters to the right, thanks in large part to Charlie. 

He leaned on his faith in God for strength and wisdom, but he knew it had to be our hands that carried the work forward.

We must choose every day to fight for the people and places we love. As Charlie often said, “We don’t fight because we know we’re going to win. We fight because it’s the right thing to do.” 

And if we do that long enough, I believe California will one day be golden again — maybe much sooner than any of us realize.

Andrew Kolvet is the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show and spokesman for Turning Point USA.