Erika Kirk says JD Vance has been a ‘blessing’ since her husband Charlie – was shot dead

Oxford, MS – In a pre-recorded interview aired Wednesday on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, Erika Kirk, 36, the newly appointed CEO of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), praised Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha for their unwavering support following the September 10, assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk, during a TPUSA event in Phoenix.

The emotional remarks came just days after a viral embrace between Erika and Vance at the University of Mississippi TPUSA stop on October 29, which ignited online debate over its intimacy and appropriateness given her recent widowhood.

“He’s been a blessing,” Erika told Watters. “Him and Usha, they are the most incredible people. Incredible. With such genuine love. I mean, just everything they did for us was so humanized. They just, they were there for us. They’ve been there for us.”

The Mississippi event, pre-scheduled with Vance before Charlie’s death, marked exactly seven weeks since the assassination. “We just wanted to keep everything in motion that Charlie wanted,” she said. “With everything that JD and Usha did for myself and Charlie afterwards, how could you not?”

The Viral Embrace Between Erika and JD Vance

In her tearful tribute, Erika told the crowd: “No one will ever replace my husband. But I do see some similarities of my husband in JD—in Vice President JD Vance. I do. And that’s why I am so blessed to be able to introduce him tonight.”

As the vice president took the stage, he and Erika shared a tight embrace. She placed her hand on the back of his head; his hands briefly rested on her waist. The moment was captured in video viewed 3.8 million times on X within 24 hours, per analytics.

Internet users quickly dissected the interaction, debating hand placement and whether the hug was appropriate for a grieving widow. Viral posts labeled it “intimate” or “inappropriate,” while others defended it as “human comfort.”

Erika described seeing her husband’s body in the hospital after he died on the scene.

“When we walked into that room … he had this smirk on his face. That smirk, that smirk to me is that look of, ‘You thought you could stop what I’ve built. You thought you could end this vision, this movement, this revival. You thought you could do that by murdering me. Also, you got my body; you didn’t get my soul.’”

Erika’s leadership has increased TPUSA membership 22% to 650,000, per internal data.

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The embrace and interview unfold amid rising political concerns. This year alone, several federal court rulings blocked efforts to defund or restrict Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in U.S. schools and universities.

For example, a Maryland federal judge permanently struck down Department of Education guidance that threatened to withhold federal funding from institutions with DEI programs.

Earlier, in February, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against Trump-era executive orders aimed at eliminating DEI programs, ruling that they likely violated constitutional protections, including free speech rights.