Erika Kirk takes digs at Joy Reid, Candace Owens in speech

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk welcomed attendees Thursday to the conservative organization’s first AmericaFest conference since the death of founder Charlie Kirk, paying tribute to her late husband and his mission while also endorsing Vice President JD Vance to be the next president.

“What I’m inspired by is the fact that Charlie and I, again, will go wherever we need to go, but so will you. That’s why you guys are here,” she said at the conference in Phoenix, Ariz. “All of you here are because you know you’re saying, ‘I want to do something.’”

AmFest was her husband’s “Super Bowl,” she said, and she was honored to carry on its legacy as conservatives continue to mourn his assassination.

“What I have learned so much within these past three months, again, the enemy, that he will never win. We know we’re on the winning side,” she said. “God is so good.”

Erika Kirk, widow of political activist Charlie Kirk, speaks at Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona on December 18, 2025. (Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images)

She noted 80% of the attendees had never attended a TPUSA event. The conservative organization has seen an explosion in interest since the assassination, which galvanized students on campuses around the country.

In an apparent dig at podcaster Candace Owens, Erika Kirk quipped that Egypt was not one of the countries represented by attendees at the event. Owens has posited numerous conspiracy theories around the Kirk assassination, including that a mysterious Egyptian plane could be linked to the killing.

Kirk said she had learned who she could rely on and pray with over the three months since her husband’s death, and she also joked that far-left podcaster Joy Reid could use a “really good hug” and she’d even touch the back of her head. Reid recently disparaged Kirk’s attire, saying she wasn’t in “widow wear,” and the way she embraced Vance at a Turning Point event earlier this year.

Kirk rattled off statistics about Turning Point’s remarkable growth since Sept. 10, including more than 1 million students involved, 3,082 Club America chapters and 1,432 college chapters.

She said the organization would help ensure President Donald Trump’s Republican Party kept control of Congress for his entire term, and then said it would get her husband’s friend JD Vance “elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.” The next commander in chief will be the 48th president.

“There are so many ways to get involved,” she told attendees. “That’s why Charlie built Turning Point USA the way he did. He didn’t care your race, your age, your background.”

She also overcame a technical malfunction, as she noted, her prepared remarks on her iPad disappeared at the outset of her comments.

“So that’s a fun technical difficulty that we can figure out. So we’re just going to wing it,” she said to cheers.

Erika Kirk sits silently onstage during the 2025 New York Times DealBook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Dec. 3. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Kirk told the audience to let the event be a literal turning point in their lives, saying as she concluded her remarks that the conference should stretch and challenge them.

Speakers at the event through the weekend include Vance, Donald Trump Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Tom Homan and numerous other conservative leaders in politics and the media.