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FIRST ON FOX — Charlie Kirk’s shooting death last week that sent shockwaves through the nation has had an outsize impact on young conservative voters — among them, Brilyn Hollyhand, a 19-year-old college freshman who on Thursday announced a multi-state university tour designed to foster conversation, debate, and engage young voters to continue to build on Kirk’s legacy.
The “One Conversation at a Time” tour, previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, is sponsored by the Kirk-founded nonprofit, Turning Point USA, which seeks to engage young people in conservative politics. Hollyhand’s tour will include stops at 10 big-name universities across the broader southeast, including in Florida, South Carolina, and Mississippi — whose undergraduate populations average between 30,000 and 40,000 people, according to data from the U.S. News & World Report.
Hollyhand, who wields considerable influence in his own right — he’s both a podcast host and author who met Kirk in fourth grade, when Kirk appeared as a guest on his podcast — told Fox News Digital in an interview that Kirk’s death should inspire people to speak up and engage with others face-to-face.
That was something Kirk excelled at, Hollyhand said — and something that’s especially important to continue to diminish the power of violent political actions.
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“If we’ve learned anything in the last week, it’s that you can kill a man, but you cannot kill a movement,” he said. “We’re not going to be silenced. And more than ever before, we have to make America talk again — and that starts on college campuses.”
Kirk, who died at 31, differentiated himself from other political “influencers” because of his authenticity, Hollyhand said. He established a presence in large part because of his college stops, where he’d sit for hours at a “Prove Me Wrong” table to debate young people face-to-face.
He leaped onto the national stage at a time when the Republican Party had been struggling to attract young voters, compared to then-President Barack Obama and the considerable star power wielded by the Democratic Party. And while Kirk’s views were unabashedly controversial, they were seen as a welcome breath of fresh air for many Republicans, who often felt out of place and unrepresented on college campuses.
“Charlie has really large shoes to fill, not just because he was a tall guy with a big shoe size,” he laughed, “but because he genuinely inspired a generation, and it wasn’t a simple task.”
“He made young people aware of why politics was important, and he made conservatism cool again. And so we can’t attempt to replicate that, but we can carry the torch for him, and we can grab the microphone and continue the relay race.
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Hollyhand, who first met Kirk when he was in fourth grade, acknowledged he is not embarking on the tour without fear. The threats against him had skyrocketed in the days since Kirk’s killing, necessitating a meeting with his security detail, who required they escort him to his classes.
The threats against him were also more detailed, “explicitly mentioning [my] walks to classes,” he said.
It’s the first time he said he considered leaving the political orbit altogether. “I paused for a second, and I stepped out of the room,” he said. “I thought, ‘What if I just stop, or if I just put down the microphone? What if I stepped away from politics?’”
“What if I went back to being a normal college student partying it up and going to classes? It would be a lot safer,” he said. “I wouldn’t have to have a detail walk with me to class.”
“And so, when Turning Point reached out about doing this tour for Charlie, [that] is why I’m doing this, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard and because it is terrifying.”
“It’s really hard to stand on the stage and on a campus and on a microphone. But Charlie would not want us to cower, and he would want us to be louder than ever, and that’s what the movement as a whole has to understand.”
Hollyhand hopes he can engage and connect with his peers in the same way Kirk did.
“There has never been a more impactful figure for Gen Z and or never will be,” he said. “And we can’t attempt to replicate that, but we can carry the torch for him, and we can grab the microphone and continue the relay race.
“So to continue Charlie’s life and legacy, I am honored to announce that I’m partnering with Turning Point USA to launch the one conversation at a time tour where I will be speaking on 10 college campuses this semester, bolder and louder than ever before.”
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