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Blake Neff Reflects on Charlie Kirk's Legacy and the First Anniversary Without Turning Point USA's Founder
Blake Neff marks the 14th anniversary of Turning Point USA, reflecting on the organization's journey from a garage in Chicago to becoming one of America's most influential movements. This first anniversary without Charlie Kirk serves as a powerful reminder of how one young man rejected conventional wisdom about reaching young people, believed conservative and faith-based arguments could win on college campuses, and proved it through relentless dedication. Neff explores how Charlie's vision transformed not just political attitudes among young Americans, but sparked a faith revival that continues today. The mission that began 14 years ago, one day before the D-Day anniversary, lives on through those Charlie chose to work alongside him, carrying forward his conviction that America could reach a true turning point through its youth.
The 14th Anniversary of a Movement Built From Nothing
Fourteen years ago, one day before the D-Day anniversary, Charlie Kirk started Turning Point USA out of a garage in Chicago. What began with no money, no connections, and by Charlie's own admission, no idea what he was doing, grew into one of the most important organizations in America. Charlie would say it was the most important organization in America, and Blake Neff, reflecting on this milestone, confirms he was right.
This 14th anniversary carries special significance—it marks the first anniversary without Charlie Kirk, who God called home to heaven as a martyr. The young founder who built Turning Point USA from nothing into a force known around the world, an organization that changed American culture in ways nothing else on the right managed to accomplish in a generation, is no longer physically present. Yet his mission continues stronger than ever.
Rejecting the Defeatism About Young People
When Charlie started Turning Point USA, Blake Neff was in college himself, witnessing firsthand the prevailing belief that young people were incurably left-wing. Barack Obama had won overwhelming support from college students, and every cohort was becoming more progressive by the year. The right had surrendered to defeatism.
The prevailing attitude involved an implicit concession that the left simply had better arguments. The only hope conservatives offered was cope—the idea that young people would inevitably become more right-wing once they graduated, got jobs, and paid taxes. There was never any belief that conservatives could confront the left on its own territory and win through superior arguments.
This defeatism extended beyond politics to faith. Young people were becoming less religious every single year in a precipitous decline. Christians routinely accepted that the future would see them as a tiny minority, possibly facing persecution, with no possibility of winning young people back to faith.
Charlie Kirk rejected all of that. That's why he called it Turning Point USA—he believed there could be a turning point for the country, and it would come through young people by confronting America's problems at their source.
The Power of Belief and Hard Work
Charlie's philosophy was simple: go on campus, go on social media, and win the argument by outperforming the left. As Napoleon Hill would say, "Conceive, believe, work, achieve." CBWA was the daily mantra Charlie lived by, pouring every part of his being into the organization.
Charlie kept a sign in his office with three questions: How can I honor God today? How can I serve others today? How can I do something in the world today? More than anyone Neff knew, Charlie lived by these principles. He was a person who truly believed in the power of one individual—that through hard work, intense self-belief, and intense self-discipline, one person could change the world.
Charlie started by barnstorming Illinois and the Midwest, speaking at every possible Tea Party rally. From that garage in Lamont, Illinois, driven by burning desire, he built something that would prove all the defeatists wrong.
The Results Speak for Themselves
The 2024 election, in which Charlie was one of the chief players, saw young people move to the right for one of the first times in ages. Even more remarkably, the decline in faith and religious belief among young people has stopped going down for the first time in memory. Some polls show it's going in the other direction.
Neff strongly believes this was Charlie's doing—that Charlie as a major force in history played a central role in making it happen. While it would be going too far to say Charlie won the battle entirely, Charlie showed that the battle could be won, and that's of central importance.
Carrying the Mission Forward
Now it's the obligation of all who knew Charlie, who Charlie chose to work with him, to carry on his mission. The battle isn't won. The battle still has to be fought, and the work is continuing.
The anniversary coincides with the opening day of the Women's Leadership Summit in San Antonio, featuring Erika Kirk, Allie Beth Stuckey, Riley Gaines, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Alex Clark, Kayleigh McEnany, and many more. These speakers are addressing thousands of young women about Charlie's message that faith and family are integral to the best lives they can live.
While Charlie spoke above all to young men, he always had a special place in his heart for young women. He recognized that young women were being harmed tremendously by modern feminism, secularism, and contemporary culture. He wanted to use his own marriage and family as a model showing that a better life could be lived, and that message was getting through at the end of Charlie's life.
A Faith Revival and Changed America
Fourteen years later, America has reached a turning point. Things in this country changed because of the model Charlie set and the life he lived. There's a faith revival underway. Young people hold beliefs that seemed impossible when Turning Point USA started 14 years ago.
Everyone has heard firsthand stories of people who dedicated their lives to Christ because of what they saw Charlie say and, to be frank, because of how Charlie lived his life all the way to the end. He accomplished so much in the first 13 years of Turning Point USA. Now at year 14, those he left behind are carrying on that legacy, proving that the mission didn't end with Charlie's life—it's being lived out through each and every person he inspired.
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