Charlie Kirk mourners gather from across US to celebrate legacy of conservative activist

23 Sep 2025 By foxnews

Tens of thousands of conservatives, young and old, from across the country made the journey to Arizona on Sunday to honor the legacy of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a memorial service.

Many of those in attendance told Fox News Digital that they awoke in the middle of the night to make hours-long drives to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, where they then waited in long lines outside to honor Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10 during the first stop of Turning Point USA's "The American Comeback Tour" at Utah Valley University.

"Everyone became friends in line, everyone exchanged numbers, everyone's on the same team trying to make America great again," Lindsay Rastgoo, who lives in Arizona, told Fox News Digital.

Rastgoo said she began her journey to the stadium at 1:45 a.m. and was excited to honor Kirk's legacy.

LIVE UPDATES: CHARLIE KIRK'S MEMORIAL SERVICE TAKING PLACE TODAY AT STATE FARM STADIUM IN GLENDALE, ARIZONA

"I mean he's changing the world," she said of the late activist. "People are starting to see the truth in what he says. And people are just starting to see he's one of the good guys."

Diana Alcorn said she traveled from Oregon because Kirk's message resonated with her.

"I came all the way from Medford, Oregon, because Charlie, he resonates with me as a senior citizen but also for my children and my grandchildren," she said.

Cliff Maloney, CEO of Citizens Alliance, was friends with Kirk and shared his emotions about the massive event with Fox News Digital at the memorial.

"This is a revival here," he said. "People are coming to Christ. They're talking about their faith. And they're talking how the radical left took a 31-year-old from us way too soon."

"Charlie's legacy is not going anywhere," Maloney said. "It is more prominent now than it could have ever been. Turning Point had over 60,000 people apply to get involved to start a chapter. This is just the beginning."

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR ASSASSINATED TURNING POINT USA FOUNDER CHARLIE KIRK DRAWS TRUMP, MAJOR GOP FIGURES

John Hockhalter, from Sun Lakes, Arizona, told Fox News Digital that Kirk "built something really special" and was encouraging his 21-year-old daughter to check out Kirk's Turning Point USA organization.

"I'm kind of pushing her maybe to check out the TP USA a little bit," he said.

Josh Riesen of Carson City, Nevada, said he left around 4:30 a.m. Saturday and arrived later that afternoon.

"I believe in everything he stood for," Riesen said. "America needs a change, a big change, and he was pushing toward that. I hope the message pushes through and we get a change here."

He said he felt "shock" when he heard about Kirk's assassination, and that it was hard to believe something like that could happen because of "the power of someone's word."

"His word is not going to go away. It's going to get even stronger from here on out, I think," he said.