Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, are traveling to Utah to pay their respects to the widow and children of Charlie Kirk, a close friend of his. The couple were scheduled to visit the site of the Sept. 11 terror attack on the World Trade Center, as CatholicVote previously reported. However, they changed their plans after Kirk was assassinated, according to a report by Politico.
Vance also wrote a lengthy tribute to Kirk on X. He described the founder of Turning Point USA, whom he has known since 2017, as a committed Christian, a kind husband and father, and a politically engaged American.
“Charlie Kirk was a true friend,” he wrote in the Sept. 10 X post. “The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.”
Vance described how Kirk supported his run for the Senate. Even before Vance decided to run, Kirk encouraged him, introducing him to donors and providing feedback to help improve his chances of winning the election.
“When I became the VP nominee--something Charlie advocated for both in public and private--Charlie was there for me,” Vance wrote.
He also described Kirk as magnanimous when it came to sharing his views with others.
“Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives,” Vance wrote. “When others were right, he learned from them. When he was right--as he usually was--he was generous. With Charlie, the attitude was never, ‘I told you so.’ But: ‘welcome.’”
The Vice President also showed gratitude for Kirk’s behind-the-scenes assistance in the second Trump administration.
“So much of the success we've had in this administration traces directly to Charlie's ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn't just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
The Vice President’s tribute included a reflection on Kirk’s dedication to God. Vance described how he and Kirk would argue over their theological differences, since Vance is Catholic and Kirk was Protestant.
In the time between when the Vice President first learned Kirk had been shot and when the news came that he had died, Vance wrote that he prayed fervently for Kirk’s survival.
“God didn't answer those prayers, and that's OK,” Vance wrote. “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.”
“You ran a good race, my friend,” he concluded. “We've got it from here.”