JD Vance pays tribute to friend Charlie Kirk credits widow Erika for major life decision

DALLAS — Vice President JD Vance reflected on his friendship with Charlie Kirk on the first anniversary of his assassination Thursday — and credited his widow Erika’s heartbreaking remarks to him immediately after the shooting with inspiring the second couple to have a fourth child this year.Vance recalled forming a quick bond with Kirk in 2018 or 2019 when they first met at Fox News’ studios — crediting Kirk, the founder of conservative youth activist group Turning Point USA, with being an early supporter of his 2022 Ohio Senate campaign and later inspiring him to be vocal about his Christian faith.“I just immediately recognize this is a guy who sees the world in the same way that I do.This is a guy who recognizes that the purpose of a political party is to make people’s lives better.

It’s not to serve these abstractions.It’s not to repeat slogans that have been repeated for years,” Vance said in an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”“As much as we might agree with the underlying substance of some of those cliches, it’s to make people’s lives better and to build a kind of country where young men can become virtuous husbands and fathers and raise good families, and where young women can become virtuous wives and mothers and also raise good families.”When he ran for Senate, “it was like my mom, my sister, my dog, and then Charlie Kirk was I think the fourth person to support me,” Vance joked.Vance’s bond with Kirk, who died at age 31 when he was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University, was so strong that he escorted his body from Utah to Phoenix aboard Air Force Two after the shocking death.“I think probably this moment had more impact on me than it did on Usha.

But when Erika looked at us and she was crying and upset — and this was one of the first conversations I had with her after Charlie’s death — and she said, ‘I wish we had more babies together.’ And that hit me like a ton of bricks, man,” V...