Vice President JD Vance (Image from live feed of event)
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- Thousands packed The Pavilion at Ole Miss Wednesday night to hear Vance and Kirk. The Democrats’ “counter-event” across campus drew roughly 100 and featured “Drag Bingo” after the event.
Erika Kirk made her first campus appearance Wednesday night at packed event at Ole Miss just seven weeks after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Turning Point USA named Erika Kirk its CEO in the days following her husband’s death.
Charlie Kirk founded the non-profit in 2012 with the vision of educating, training, and organizing students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. The founder used speaking events on college campuses across the U.S. to highlight the need for faith, family and honest debate in today’s political arena.
Turning Point USA was to make a stop at Ole Miss prior to Charlie Kirk being assassinated last month. In the days after the tragedy, the decision was made to keep the tour date in Mississippi.
Erika Kirk took the stage at The Pavilion at Ole Miss Wednesday night wearing a T-shirt with “Freedom” across the chest, as her late-husband often did when he appeared on college campuses.
While visibly still shaken by her loss, she was able to smile as the estimated crowd of 9,000, mostly students, chanted “Hotty Toddy,” Ole Miss’ well-known rallying cry.
Kirk said her being on campus now “is a spiritual reclaiming of territory,” telling the crowd that “the enemy” seeks to take “your influence.”
“I could hear Charlie in my heart. I could just hear him say, ‘Go reclaim that territory, babe. Go – the battles that God’s love conquers.’ And that’s why I’m here today,” she said.
She then encouraged the students to earn their voice, calling them the “courageous generation.”
“That’s what you are. All of you, Gen Z, you are the courageous generation. Make him proud,” Kirk said referring to her husband’s legacy.
Kirk then introduced Vice President J.D. Vance, calling him a friend to her family.
Vance had flown in earlier in the day, landing in Tupelo before driving to Oxford. He was greeted on the tarmac by Governor Tate Reeves (R), U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) and U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R), all of whom also attended the Turning Point USA event Wednesday evening as did other Mississippi local, state and federal elected officials. Ole Miss Chancelor Glenn Boyce was in attendance as well, seated next to Governor Reeves.
Vance took the stage enthusiastically asking the Ole Miss crowd, “Are you ready?” The call was a precursor to another “Hotty Toddy” chant, this one louder and more robust than before.
The Republican Vice President said he had prepared remarks but closed his folder and chose instead to “speak from the heart.” He talked about Charlie Kirk’s impact on his life and why it was important to hold events like the ones at Ole Miss, saying that “a properly rooted Christian moral order” is needed to sustain the United States.
“If you care about your country, don’t just complain on social media. Get up and get involved in saving this country,” Vance said to rousing cheers.
Following his remarks, Vance then took questions from students for over an hour, similar to how Charlie Kirk did when he appeared on college campuses. Questions ranged from the use of the National Guard in crime infested cities to immigration to faith in the public square and more. Vance methodically and forthrightly addressed ever question asked of him, even going so far as to help make nervous students comfortable when stepping up the microphone to pose their query.
Vice President Vance did echo Charlie Kirk’s often used advice to students, saying, “Fall in love. Get married. Start a family.” Vance said he believed strong families were key to the nation’s success.
Vance spoke at length on the influence of his faith in his life and made no apologies “for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country.” He said liberalism is a perverted form of Christianity.
“There’s nothing wrong, of course, with focusing on people who are disenfranchised, for example. That’s the focus of liberalism. But if you completely separate it from any religious duty or any civic virtue, then that can actually become, for example, an inducement to lawlessness,” said Vance. “You can’t just have compassion for the criminal. You also have to have justice, too. Which is why I think that a properly rooted Christian moral order is such an important part of the future of our country.”
On the issue of immigration, Vance said it was time to roll back the number of immigrants allowed in the U.S., saying that the country needs time to unite and those who have come must assimilate around American values and ideals. He noted that unchecked and illegal immigration makes it harder on young Americans to find a job and find a home. The Ole Miss crowd cheered in approval.
Across campus at the Ole Miss Student Union, a “counter-event” sponsored by the Young Democrats of Ole Miss and supported by the Mississippi Democratic Party was held with roughly 100 in attendance.
The “counter-event” featured Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson and University of Mississippi Professor of Sociology Dr. James Thomas among other speakers. State Rep. Johnson is known for being one of the “Tennessee Three” whose protests in the state House drew national attention after a school deadly shooting in Nashville. Thomas, a tenured professor at Ole Miss, has often been a controversial figure at the university and is best known for his combative statements regarding treatment of U.S. Senators and supporters of President Donald Trump.
Following the Democrat-backed “counter-event” billed as a “Mississippi Rise Up Town Hall,” organizers and the partners with the Democratic Party, which included UM Environmental Coalition, UM Forward, Southern Progressives Alliance, Community Alliance Network, Lafayette County Democratic Party, and United Campus Workers, hosted a “Drag Bingo” at the Powerhouse.
