Transcript: Vice President J.D. Vance Remarks at Charlie Kirk Memorial

Read the full transcript of Vice President J.D. Vance’s remarks during the Charlie Kirk memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, September 21, 2025.

Opening Remarks: A Voice That Cannot Be Silenced

VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE: Thank you. Thank you all so much. You know, I can’t help but think that they tried to silence my friend Charlie Kirk. They tried to silence our dear friend Charlie Kirk, and today, tonight, we speak with Charlie and for Charlie louder than ever. The evil murderer who took Charlie from us expected us to have a funeral today, and instead, my friends, we have had a revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk and of his Lord Jesus Christ.

We gather here in this stadium in the hot Arizona sun, shielded in a great shining city, our fathers raised out of the desert, and from this desert, Charlie Kirk built a movement. He transformed the face of conservatism in our own time, and in doing so, he changed the course of American history.

A Champion of Truth and Debate

To rising generations across this country, Charlie exemplified kindness, courage, and a commitment to open debate, and he was a great debater, and we loved him for it. But Charlie loved debate not because he excelled at it, but because it was the vehicle for bringing the light of truth to dark places. And Charlie Kirk brought many truths in his life.

Charlie brought the truth that young people deserve a stake in the future and that they deserve to have a voice. He brought the truth that marriage and family were the highest callings, far more important than any job or educational credential. He brought the truth that our nation would fade unless it brought order to its neighborhoods and prosperity to its people. He brought the truth that life was precious, and we must fight to protect it at all stages and at all times. And most of all, Charlie brought the truth that Jesus Christ was the King of Kings and that all truth flowed from this first and most important one.

Living the Truth: A Model of Christian Virtue

But Charlie, he did so much more than tell the truth, he lived it. Charlie understood that the best evangelization was not in what you said, but in how you lived your life. And in this city, he lived his life well. He raised a wonderful family. He had a beautiful wife, two beloved children, and a loving and godly home. In this, he showed us the importance of family.

He lived three decades he had on this earth with a sense of Christian virtue that would make any man, any person proud. And in this, he showed the importance of following God. He was a kind-hearted man, a hard-working person, and any parent would be proud to have him as a son. In this, he showed the virtue of industriousness. He was present and loving as any child would hope of his or her father. And in this, he showed the importance of strong Christian fatherhood. He was fearless and he was bold as any follower would hope would be true of a leader. And in this, he showed all of us how to carry on after his death.

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Athens and Jerusalem: A Scholar and Believer

You know, Charlie Kirk, he loved history. He devoured the ideas that formed the foundation of our civilization. He stood for a tradition that Socrates established 2,500 years ago to question, to search, and to teach. He was Athens and Jerusalem, the city of reason and the city of God in one person. But if he loved those places, they were not his home. America was his home and he was willing to die for it.

You know, Charlie, he loved this country with a contagious intensity. Anybody who talked to him knew it and felt it. He knew that America was a beautiful place and we had these incredible ideas, but he also knew that our country was a covenant between the generations past, present, and future. He believed this country’s best days were not behind us, but ahead of us. But he knew those better days would have to be earned. They would have to be worked for. We would have to sacrifice and work and tell the truth.

Building a Movement That Demands Courage

He knew that America wouldn’t be saved just by pulling together seminars or talking about the right kind of books in front of the right kind of people. The movement which he created demanded more. It demanded courage. It demanded hard work. It demanded building and it demanded leaders and my friends in Charlie Kirk, we found a great American leader.

Now our whole administration is here, but not just because we loved Charlie as a friend even though we did, but because we know we wouldn’t be here without him. Charlie built an organization that reshaped the balance of our politics. Turning Point brought millions of young people into conversation with one another, brought millions of people into advocacy.

He asked of us not just that we talk about saving our country, but that we actually go and do it and we do it together. But even as Charlie built on a grand scale, his greatness was never only in his ambition. It was measured in the everyday moments as well, in the way that he treated ordinary people each and every single day.

So you learn a lot about someone by how they treat others when the cameras aren’t on. Charlie treated staffers as well as he treated the President of the United States. When I was just a guy polling at nothing in my Senate race back in 2021, Charlie helped me not because I was a future Vice President, but because I was a dear friend.

I saw just a couple of months ago when a White House staffer struggled with the weight of his job and the responsibilities of new fatherhood, Charlie stopped what he was doing in the hallways of the West Wing and said a prayer for that staffer.

Because Charlie believed that we were all children of God, he treated everyone with grace. And that is perhaps the enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk.

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A Legacy of Faith and Truth

You know I was telling somebody backstage that I always felt a little uncomfortable talking about my faith in public as much as I loved the Lord and as much as it was an important part of my life. I have talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life. And that is an undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk.

You know he loved God and because he loved God, he wanted to understand God’s creation and the men and women made in his image. Now much has been said over the last week about Charlie’s ability to approach any topic, any person in good faith, an achievement that was only possible because Charlie knew that we were all children of God.

He knew deep down the truth of scripture and from that confidence everything else flowed. That unshakable belief in the gospel led him to see differences in opinion not as battlefields to conquer but as way stations in the pursuit of truth. He knew it was right to love others, your neighbor, your interlocutor, your enemy. But he also understood his duty to say what is right and what is wrong, to distinguish what is false from what is true.

Confronting Evil with Faith

Charlie was slain doing what he loved, telling the truth, proclaiming his faith, building out a dream. And now he’s gone and our hearts feel so empty because he’s been taken from us. He’s been taken from his parents and from his sister. He’s been taken from our darling Erica and their beautiful children. And Erica I know I speak for this entire auditorium when I say that we love you and we will never stop standing by your side just as Charlie did.

He was taken from us by those who despise the virtues that actually made our civilization great to begin with, dialogue, truth seeking, family, and faith. In the wake of his death we have seen some of the very worst parts of humanity. We have watched people slander him. We have watched people justify his murder and celebrate his death.

I know that this makes you angry just as it has made me angry, but it is easy in these moments to see only the worst of our fellow man. I found myself wishing that I could pick up the phone and talk to my friend and ask him for his advice and his counsel, to ask him how to respond to such hate and the souls from which that hate springs.

But I can’t call my friend because he was murdered for speaking the truth. I can only guess at what he might say and what he would encourage me to do. And here’s what I think. I think he would encourage me to be honest that evil still walks among us. Not to ignore it for the sake of a fake kumbaya moment, but to address it head on and honestly as the sickness that it is.

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But I also think he would encourage me, he would encourage all of us to focus on the good. He would encourage us to remember that for every hateful voice celebrating his murder there are a thousand people mourning it and fighting for his legacy every single day. He would tell me to pray, I’m certain of it. He would tell me to pray for my friends, but also for my enemies. He would tell me to put on the full armor of God and get back to work.

A Call to Courage and Truth

He would tell us to commit ourselves to telling the truth and to fight for that truth each and every single day. He would tell us to talk about God’s love and the fact that that love applied everybody across the whole human family.

Charlie suffered a terrible fate, my friends. We all know it. We all saw it. But think, it is not the worst fate. It is better to face a gunman than to live your life afraid to speak the truth. It is better to be persecuted for your faith than to deny the kingship of Christ. It is better to die a young man in this world than to sell your soul for an easy life with no purpose, no risk, no love, and no truth.

Christ told us in the Gospel of John, “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” Charlie took heart and now we must do the same.

“For Charlie”

I’ve seen so many of you say, so many on social media talk about “for Charlie.” We must do this for Charlie. For Charlie, we will speak the truth every single day. For Charlie, we will rebuild this United States of America to greatness. For Charlie, we will never shrink, we will never cower, and we will never falter even when staring down the barrel of a gun.

For Charlie, we will remember that it is better to stand on our feet defending the United States of America and defending the truth than it is to die on our knees. My friends, for Charlie, we must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America and he is a martyr for the Christian faith.

May our Heavenly Father give us the courage to live as Charlie lived. That is what we must do for Charlie. You ran a good race, my friend. I love you. We’ve got it from here. We’ve got it. We’ve got it. We’ve got it.