Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance will travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday to visit Charlie Kirk‘s family in the wake of his murder. Vance, who was close to Kirk, called him a true friend in a eulogy for the conservative activist on Wednesday.
Vance canceled a trip to commemorate the 9/11 attacks in New York City for the visit to Utah, according to the Washington Post.
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“I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him,” Vance said on X. “And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot. I prayed a lot over the next hour, as first good news and then bad trickled in.
“God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly,” the vice president continued. “You ran a good race, my friend. We’ve got it from here.”
The FBI is investigating the case, and a manhunt is underway for the shooter, who is still at large after shooting Kirk on Wednesday afternoon while Kirk was speaking to a crowd outdoors at Utah Valley University.
Officers initially detained a suspect but later released the person and said they were searching for a different person of interest.
In the wake of the murder, widespread condemnation of political violence and ideological polarization poured in from both sides of the aisle, as well as accolades and tributes to Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA who was nationally known for his political outreach to youth on college campuses and as a key ally to President Donald Trump and his administration.
Vance said following the tragedy that he had known Kirk since the activist reached out to him on social media with encouragement in 2017. The relationship transformed beyond political exchanges, as the two became close friends, with Kirk giving Vance behind-the-scenes advice on his Ohio Senate campaign, his religious walk, and raising a growing family in the often unwelcome limelight of politics, and “constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers,” the vice president said.
Vance credited Kirk’s efforts during the 2024 presidential campaign with helping Trump win the election and building out the president’s second term in office.
“Some of our most successful events were organized not by the campaign, but by TPUSA,” he wrote in his tribute on X. “He wasn’t just a thinker, he was a doer, turning big ideas into bigger events with thousands of activists. And after every event, he would give me a big hug, tell me he was praying for me, and ask me what he could do. ‘You focus on Wisconsin,’ he’d tell me. ‘Arizona is in the bag.’ And it was.
“Success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government,” Vance continued.
CHARLIE KIRK DEAD AFTER BEING SHOT AT UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY EVENT
In a sober video statement from the Oval Office released to the nation Wednesday evening, Trump called Kirk’s death “a dark moment for America.”
The president has ordered flags lowered to half-staff until Sunday night to honor Kirk.