On a warm spring evening in 1974, the music critic Jon Landau watched a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, and wrote: “I have the seen the future of rock and roll, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” On a hot summer day in September 2025, about 200,000 people attended the Charlie Kirk memorial, and over 20 million watched on cable and online. Many of the witnesses likely came away thinking: “I have seen the future of the MAGA movement, and its name is Erika Kirk.”
Erika Kirk is the widow of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but she is much, much more than that. She is a woman of impressive and eclectic accomplishments in her own right.
While playing NCAA Division II basketball in college, she earned dual degrees in political science and international relations. After graduating college, she earned a third degree, in American Legal Studies. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Biblical Studies.
She was crowned Miss Arizona at the age of 23, and represented the state in the Miss USA Pageant.
Ten years ago, she founded Biblein365, a ministry program that helps its members read the Bible in one year. It claims to have 180,000 participants. She runs her own faith-based clothing company, hosts a podcast focused on Biblical leadership, and reportedly works as a real-estate agent.
On top of that, she is the mother of two young children.
On September 12, two days after the assassination, she was unanimously chosen to take his place as CEO and Board Chair of Turning Point USA. This was not a big surprise. Before his death, her husband had discussed just such a succession plan with Turning Point executives.
But what happened nine days later, at the packed State Farm Stadium, was a surprise, at least to those who knew her only as Charlie Kirk’s widow. The event was planned as a memorial to Charlie Kirk. But it also turned out to be an opportunity for the potential heirs apparent to MAGA leader Donald Trump to showcase their talents. One might even say it was a kind of MAGA movement beauty pageant. Erika Kirk, who knows a thing or two about beauty pageants, demonstrated to a vast audience that she is equipped and inclined to take on the leadership, not just of Turning Point USA, but of the MAGA movement itself.
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