Erika Kirk urges conservatives to avoid infighting after midterm losses, invoking her late husband's words

After Republican setbacks in the US midterm elections, Turning Point USA chief executive Erika Kirk has sent a message to the party's workers and supporters, building it around the words of her late husband, the organisation's founder Charlie Kirk.

In a social media message, Erika Kirk wrote, 'I miss Charlie so much every single day, but especially on a day like today.'

She recalled a familiar saying of his: when things are going well, stay humble; and when things are not going the way one wants, stay positive, keep the faith and get back to work.

According to Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk built Turning Point Action to outlast the wins and losses of a single election. His goal was a permanent, year-round operation with the people, relationships and resources to compete in every cycle.

Charlie had experienced both victories and setbacks, Erika Kirk wrote, and that is why he built the organisation for both.

Thanking the staff, students, volunteers and ballot chasers who worked through the election cycle, she said Charlie would have been unbelievably proud of each of them, and that she is proud too.

In a lengthy post on X, Erika Kirk wrote that several once-comfortable Republican races had tightened or flipped. As she described it, democratic socialist candidates had campaigned on the cost of fuel, groceries and housing.

She wrote, 'A rising stock market doesn't mean much when nearly half of Americans don't have a 401K and just want to put gas in their trucks, put food on the table, and provide a good life for their families.'

While disagreeing with the solutions their opponents offered, she said conservatives must understand why voters had looked elsewhere. She also used the post to restate her defence of free enterprise.

Warning conservatives against finger-pointing, infighting and manoeuvres for their own political preservation, she said the biggest mistake at this moment would be exactly that behaviour, because it does not solve the problems Americans are demanding be solved.

Erika Kirk said exit polls showed voters were concerned about the economy and the war in Iran. She said Turning Point had been hearing the same concerns from students around the country for months.

Rejecting socialism as an answer, she argued that it places economic power in the hands of government rather than allowing individuals and families to build prosperity, conflicting with free enterprise, individual liberty and opportunity.

But she also warned that voters will no longer stick with a party out of unquestioned loyalty. In her words, Americans will support the candidates who can speak to their concerns and deliver what they need and dream about for their families. Affordable homes, safe communities and greater opportunity for the next generation are the promises voters want fulfilled.

Erika Kirk said her organisation would study the results, listen to voters and spend the next two years making the case that conservative policies and free markets can address the problems Americans face. She also spoke of building relationships in communities across the country and preparing for '2028 and beyond'. She concluded, 'Our principles haven't changed and neither has our mission.'