New Hampshire Republicans, Democrats Shocked By Political Assassination Of Conservative Activist Kirk

CONCORD, NH — Republicans in New Hampshire are asking for thoughts and prayers after a popular conservative influencer and free speech advocate was gunned down at a political event in Utah.

Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth group Turning Point USA, died Wednesday after he was shot at Utah Valley University during a talk with thousands of college students. Video online shows gunfire from a rooftop around 200 yards from where he was speaking. Mixed reports have been filed regarding the capturing and questioning of suspects and persons of interest.

Around 8 p.m., FBI Director Kash Patel reported on X-Twitter that a second person of interest was released after being interviewed by law enforcement.

“Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in (the) interest of transparency,” he wrote.

Flags across the nation, including New Hampshire, which were already planned to be at half-staff for the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks tomorrow, will remain so until sunset on Sunday, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said in a statement, as proclaimed by President Donald Trump.

Jim MacEachern, the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican, said the party joined Kirk, his friends, and family, and “the entire conservative movement in mourning his loss,” according to an email.

“Violence has no place in our politics,” he said. “In the wake of this tragedy, we must come together and remember there is more that unites than divides us in our country.”

Senate President Sharon Carson said she and others were “heartbroken” by the news. While details were limited, she said, political violence should be considered an attack on every American.

“It will not silence lawful speech, open debate, or the civic engagement Charlie encouraged in young people since he founded Turning Point as a teenager,” she said. “Charlie often said at the start of his events, ‘If you disagree with me, please come to the front.’ He invited dissent and encouraged all to disagree without being disagreeable.”

Kirk, she said, often urged students to stand up for their ideas with courage and to answer arguments with argument, not anger.

“The way we honor that legacy is to reject violence, protect free expression, and meet one another in the arena of ideas,” Carson said. “Now is a time for prayer, reflection, and an absolute rejection of violence and the rhetoric that fuels it.”

Carson’s colleague on the other side of the Senate aisle, Democratic Leader state Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, said she was also “horrified” by the murder.

“This is a sobering moment when we must unequivocally condemn the normalization of political violence in America,” she wrote on X-Twitter. “Our prayers are with his loved ones as we mourn this terrible act.”

Kwoka’s partner in the House, state Rep. Alexis Simpson, D-Exeter, agreed.

“I’m deeply saddened to hear that Charlie Kirk has passed away,” she said on X-Twitter. “We cannot allow violence to become the language of politics. The shooting of Charlie Kirk is abhorrent. My prayers and those of the House Democratic Caucus are with his family and friends tonight.”

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, and U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, all Democrats, also condemned the shooting on X-Twitter.

Kirk was scheduled to speak at the Hanover Inn Grand Ballroom on September 25 with Hasan Piker, a Turkish-American streamer and influencer who is considered left-wing, for a "Politics of Youth" debate sponsored by the Dartmouth Political Union and the Dartmouth Dialogues Project.

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