The Lake County Commission in Florida unanimously voted in favor of designating the Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway on Sept. 23.
This may well be the first officially designated tribute in the country, with the sign going up within days after the county commission voted on the change.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that former Florida legislator Anthony Sabatini spearheaded the resolution and posted “IT’S OFFICIAL — Our Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway signs are up!”
Sabatini commented, “Lake County, FL is now the 1st local government in the nation to name a road after the great Charlie Kirk — every city & county in America should follow our lead.”
Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway has been approved by the Lake County Commission.
The road is a section of Wellness Way from US 27 to the Orange County line.
Lake County’s dedication of the highway represents the first county to memorialize Kirk in the aftermath of his… pic.twitter.com/VZyNDxIcq5
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) October 2, 2025
Schofield Road, which connects Lake County to Orange County, was given the designation.
Approval for the name change was reportedly contentious, with about two and a half hours of sometimes shouted debate, the News-Journal reported.
Similar requests to rename roads in honor of Kirk are either awaiting approval or have already been denied in Florida in areas including Clearwater, Hernando County, Melbourne, Miami-Dade County, Pensacola, and St. Lucie County.
Conservatives have worked to honor Kirk’s memory and his life achievements in various ways, but their efforts have not always met with approval.
Directly following the public assassination of Kirk on Sept. 10, President Donald Trump ordered American flags to be flown at half-staff and shared that he would posthumously award him the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
People held vigils across the nation in churches and towns big and small.
A memorial service was held in Glendale, Arizona, which Homeland Security shared was attended by close to 100,000 people.
Kirk spent a good deal of time traveling to local universities in Florida.
Jamie Miller, the vice president of communications and chief marketing officer, said that New College of Florida in Sarasota plans to commission a statue of Kirk on campus “as a commitment by New College to defend and fight for free speech and civil discourse in American life.”
It may be said that the highway of ideas and the route of open debate is more heavily traveled because of Kirk’s work, and Lake County, Florida, seems to be the first to pay his path tribute.
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