A resolution honoring Charlie Kirk is poised to get Democratic support during a House vote on Friday, just over a week after the conservative activist was assassinated.
A Democratic member confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Democratic leadership told the conference they planned to support the resolution. A bipartisan debate took place Thursday afternoon, setting up a vote on the resolution Friday when the House is also expected to vote on a short-term spending bill to fund the government through Nov. 20.
“Political violence has no place in the United States of America,” House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) said during the debate, where he condemned the assassination and offered his condolences to the Kirk family.
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“Our democracy rests on a fragile but enduring promise that disagreements are to be aired through speech and debate and through the ballot box” he continued. “Not through intimidation, not through violence and not through bloodshed.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee has already begun running ads slamming Democrats who don’t plan to support the resolution, citing a Democratic member telling Axios they are being “set up.” Another Democratic lawmaker told the Washington Examiner that “everyone feels very differently” and that the vote will be “all over the board.”
“The modern Democrat Party is simply too radical and unhinged to condemn a politically motivated assassination and honor a man and father of two whose only crime was loving America, winning the debate in the proper fashion, and inspiring others to do the same,” NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella wrote in a press release.
The resolution was introduced to honor the life of Kirk and condemn the act of political violence. A similar resolution was passed 424-0 in June, condemning the assassination of former Speaker of the Minnesota House Melissa Hortman. The resolution honoring Kirk was introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and cosponsored by 176 Republicans.
“Whereas the tragic loss of Charlie Kirk must not be allowed to deepen the divides in our Nation, but instead serve as a turning point to recommit ourselves to better angels, and to the timeless American principles of liberty governed by truth and the virtues of peaceful dialogue,” the bill wrote.
The Senate unanimously passed Sen. Mike Lee’s resolution (R-UT) on Tuesday. The resolution condemns his assassination “in the strongest possible terms,” while also honoring his life. The Senate’s version of the resolution is only two pages, much shorter than the House’s version. The upper chamber also passed a resolution Thursday by voice vote to designate Oct. 14 of this year as the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was assassinated last Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University. The Republican was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization that was instrumental in rallying young voters to the Republican Party and for Trump.
Federal investigators say Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man suspected of assassinating Kirk, has been linked to the crime through a DNA match and note.