The House of Representatives on Friday passed a GOP resolution honoring Charlie Kirk’s life and condemning political violence in the wake of his assassination last week in Utah.
The resolution passed by a vote of 310-58, with all Republicans and only 95 Democrats voting in favor of it. Fifty-eight Democrats opposed the resolution and 38 Democrats voted present.
Earlier this week, a similar resolution passed unanimously in the Senate.
In a closed-door meeting at the Capitol, Thursday morning, top House Democrats reportedly informed rank-and-file members they would support the resolution, but would not push other lawmakers to do the same.
In explaining her no vote, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused Republicans of putting forward the resolution honoring Kirk’s life on “a purely partisan basis.”
The resolution, sponsored by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), condemns political violence in “all forms” and calls on all Americans “to reject political violence, recommit to respectful debate, uphold American values, and respect one another as fellow Americans.”
It praises Kirk as someone who engaged in “respectful, civil discourse” and “worked tirelessly to promote unity without compromising on conviction.”
Kirk “personified the values of the First Amendment, exercising his God-given right to speak freely, challenge prevailing narratives, and did so with honor, courage, and respect for his fellow Americans,” the resolution proclaims.
AOC said she had no problem condemning the political violence, but took issue with the part of the resolution that said he had “worked tirelessly to promote unity.”
Ocasio Cortez stated that the resolution would bring “great pain to the millions of Americans who endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of bigotry, today.”
“We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was,” she added, before listing several of Kirk’s statements regarding Jews, the Civil Right’s Act, and more, some of which have been taken out of context.
“His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans,” AOC said.
A resolution condemning the murder of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband was passed unanimously in the House back in June. The suspect in that shooting, Vance Boelter, claimed in a letter found in his abandoned vehicle that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) had selected him to carry out several political assassinations.
Speaker Johnson expressed disappointment following the vote that half of the Democrats refused to unite with Republicans on condemning political violence.
“We passed a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, my late friend, and the friend of so many in this Chamber, and we called out political violence in America,” the Speaker said. “Sadly, a number of Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to vote on that.”