Three days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a college campus debate, Arizona teenager Taylor Sharp stood before a crowd and made a promise.
He would carry on Kirk’s legacy, he said, and launch his own Kirk-style debate tour on college campuses.
A crowd at Dillon’s at Western Trails Ranch roared in support. The barbecue restaurant, about 50 miles northwest of Phoenix, was hosting a memorial rally for Kirk, and hundreds had gathered.
Nearly a thousand miles away in Texas, Gianna Carlson was desperately trying to get to AmericaFest 2025, the flagship event hosted every December in downtown Phoenix by Kirk’s political advocacy organization, Turning Point USA.
Carlson was at a turbulent point in her life, she told The Arizona Republic. Her parents,
despite their reservations, bought her the ticket in hopes of cheering her up.
Kirk’s activism fused religion and politics. It galvanized some members of younger generations for Christian, conservative values. He told young people to find God, ditch college, get married and have babies — even if they couldn't afford it.
But after his death in September 2025, it was unclear how and if Kirk’s influence would continue to hold sway over the students who followed him.
Sharp, 18, and Carlson, 19, are one illustration of Kirk’s advocacy coming to fruition.
Sharp started holding events on campuses around metro Phoenix and wants to become a full-time conservative influencer online. He has garnered more than 165,000 followers, up more than 100,000 from a year ago. His clips, debating contentious subjects like abortion and immigration, have racked up millions of views. Sharp says maybe one day he’ll run for president.
Carlson, who long dreamt of becoming a mom but also considered becoming a U.S. Senator with plans to attend college, now says she’s prioritizing marriage and motherhood. She has “no interest” in pursuing a career, she said, other than to promote “biblical womanhood.” She has championed making it legally harder to get divorced and supports “household voting,” where women give up their right to vote and defer to the male head of household.
Sharp and Carlson offer a glimpse into how Kirk’s proselytizing and untimely death has reverberated among the younger generations he sought to influence. For some of his young admirers, that influence has altered not just their politics but their life trajectories — from who and how they date, to when they start a family, how they get educated and what kind of career to pursue, or, if they're women, whether they should pursue one at all.
Kirk's life of activism also has affected some of his followers' parents, who have watched their children transform and make life-altering decisions just as they enter adulthood.
For Sharp's mom, that influence has been mostly welcome, but Carlson's parents are struggling.
“Everyone would tell you that who Gianna is now is not the girl she was," her dad, Scott Carlson, said.
What led Sharp, Carlson to Kirk and Turning Point USA
Denise Sharp said her son’s interest in politics took root in 2016. His grandma was a diehard Donald Trump fan at a time when the first-time candidate was viewed as an outcast and longshot for the Republican nomination.
Sharp, then 8, helped set up a giant Trump 2016 sign at his grandparents’ home and even asked for an oval-office themed bedroom.
When he learned the results the morning after Election Day, “He flipped out. He was so excited,” Denise Sharp said.
But Taylor Sharp was also a “phenomenal” soccer player, his mom said. She thought he’d go pro one day. Then at 15, he abruptly quit.
The week or two before, Taylor Sharp had met Charlie Kirk. He said he wanted to quit soccer to focus on politics full-time.
“I said, ‘Oh no, you’re not. There’s 17 pairs of cleats in the closet that were $400 each. You’re not quitting soccer,’” Denise Sharp recalled telling him.
Politics was never her passion, and while she was religious, she kept her views private as a realtor.
“I love everyone, and I don’t care what side they’re on. I don’t care what lifestyle they have. I think people are people,” Denise Sharp said.
But her son didn’t change his mind.
“I watched his debates, I watched how much wit he had and the snappy comebacks. He was so smart,” Sharp said about Kirk.
For Carlson, the journey to Kirk and Turning Point USA came during a period of upheaval.
She was raised Christian and always wanted to be a mom, her dad, Scott Carlson told The Republic.
She was a “’hear me roar’ kind of girl,” he said. “Her heart’s always been on fire for God. Always. She used to raise money to go on gospel missions.”
She’d also loved politics since fourth grade and “had every plan to run for Senate,” she said. “But then Covid hit, and I saw how much politics truly impacted my life. I saw politicians lie when everything happened to my dad.”
Scott Carlson was a firefighter in Redmond, Washington, who was fired after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. He and his wife, Dana Carlson, moved the kids repeatedly afterward as they sought to find work. They stayed with friends and grandparents and spent one summer road tripping and sleeping at hotels.
“My parents did a good job for my younger siblings. They were like, ‘We’re just going to go on a really long summer vacation!’ (But) I knew what was going on at the time,” Gianna Carlson said.
She would’ve found comfort by speaking with her grandpa, but he died suddenly before her dad’s job loss. Then, she said she was sexually assaulted.
"I got really, really angry with the Lord,” Carlson told The Republic. She said her faith began to falter.
“I was talking to my youth pastor about this. ‘I don’t know what’s happening; I feel like I’m underwater in a very dark ocean, and I can’t see, I can’t move, I can’t get out. Like I can see (God’s) hand above, and I’m reaching for it, and I can’t touch it, and I don’t know why,’” Carlson said.
Kirk’s videos were the rare political content she liked. But then he was shot and killed.
It hit her “like a rocket,” she said, and she felt compelled to act.
Carlson launched a “Club America” chapter for homeschooled teens like herself in Boerne, Texas.
The Turning Point-affiliated club gave her a way to be involved and connected politically, while Kirk’s messages about faith resonated on a personal level.
His videos urged younger generations to focus on God and family. He had a prescription for a healthier, more joyful and biblical America. He provided explanations for why young women were struggling and how they could achieve happiness.
Scott Carlson said his daughter “was starting to swing more into the politics of things and enjoying the clicks online” on her social media accounts. He would later reflect on the time period as a red flag warning that his daughter was losing sight of herself.
"I ignored my dad instinct; I ignored my better judgement," he said.
But he and Dana said they felt badly about the challenges Gianna had gone through.
“I so badly wanted to give my daughter a victory,” Scott Carlson said. So when his daughter asked to go to Phoenix for AmericaFest 2025, they said yes.
Dana Carlson described the decision nine months later as her "biggest regret."
Teens’ paths collide after meeting at AmericaFest 2025
Carlson and Sharp met at the crowded Phoenix Convention Center amid thousands of attendees. Carlson recognized Sharp from a mutual friend's social media account and asked for a photo.
"I thought she was hot, so I was like, 'Come on my podcast!'" Sharp recalled.
They talked about her dad losing his job and how one of her TikTok videos went viral.
It was posted days after Kirk’s assassination. In it, she challenged viewers to “name a woman stronger than Erika Kirk.” It was mocked repeatedly, with viewers adding snarky, clap-back responses, often naming a litany of historical female figures.
Sharp reassured her, “I’m so proud of you for sticking with it.”
He visited Carlson at her family’s home in Texas two weeks later. Sharp had Christmas money to spend, so the couple went to Best Buy and bought a microphone for his phone.
They walked outside and gave it go. Sharp held the mic, while Carlson filmed.
"I asked this kid, 'What do you think about ICE?' And he goes, 'I'm illegal.’ And that was, like, my first viral interview clip. It had, like, 50K views. Like, a pretty good amount of likes, too. I was like, 'Oh, this is sick. You can just do this,’” Sharp said.
Before he flew back home, he asked Carlson to be his girlfriend.
In February, Carlson flew back to Phoenix to be with Sharp for Valentine’s Day. After a week, she decided not to return home, citing conflict with her dad.
She’s lived with Sharp at his mom’s home since then.
Carlson acknowledged that her and Sharp’s living situation goes against their biblical beliefs but said she felt out of options because the conflict with her parents grew so severe.
“If there was another way, we probably would have taken it,” Carlson said.
Sharp said "nothing unbiblical" had happened since they started living together.
"Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," he said.
Inspired by the Kirks, Sharp and Carlson ramp up on social media
After Carlson’s move to Phoenix, the couple began posting on social media more, echoing sentiments from both Charlie and Erika Kirk related to abortion, illegal immigration, faith and family.
Sharp put a call out on his Instagram for a video editor and started filming more public interviews.
"And we're just balling. We're sending (the video editor), like, Dropbox full of files, another Dropbox worth of files. And there's tons of these video files of these protests and just owning the libs," he said.
Another viral moment hit at a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Central Avenue with another conservative influencer.
A protester put her hands on the friend’s microphone, and Sharp grabbed the woman’s hand in an apparent attempt to get her to let go.
The woman slapped Sharp in the face and grabbed him.
“You touched me first (expletive),” she said. With her hands still on him, Sharp flipped the woman over his shoulder, and she landed on the ground.
Carlson held a camera and followed their scuffle, filming.
Sharp said it got around 5 million overall views.
Carlson also posted a series of videos of her own, mostly about marriage, to YouTube and Instagram.
She posted a video to social media in March of her helping Sharp get ready to film content. Text on the screen read, “I choose obeying my man and trusting him over pretending I don’t need one.”
Sharp, who replied to the video with heart and applause emojis, told The Republic that Carlson's views on submission made her "totally wife material."
Carlson said she learned about “biblical submission” from the Kirks.
“I was listening to what him and Erika were saying about their marriage, and I was like, ‘That’s the kind of marriage I want,’” she said. “Then as I got deeper into the Bible, I was like, ‘OK, this is more biblical as well.’”
In another YouTube video June 1, she's flying with him to an event in Texas. Text on the screen reads, “When you meet the right man, serving him feels fulfilling rather than draining, and submission feels like safety not slavery.”
Commenters criticized her stance about obeying Sharp, but she defended it, saying it wasn’t about ownership but rather “God’s design for the family.”
In interviews with The Republic, Carlson said she was wanted to re-brand her social media going forward. She stands by her posts but could have worded them better, she said. For example, she said submission is not acceptable in cases of adultery or abuse. It should also be rare and used only in scenarios where spouses cannot come to agreement. She noted one of her pastors, in a decades-long marriage, said he used it maybe five times.
Sharp agreed, saying submission isn't an excuse to mistreat one's wife.
On household voting, Carlson said she believed unmarried men — in addition to unmarried women — shouldn't be allowed to vote. Only married people who own property should vote, she said, because they're more likely to be invested in the well-being of the country. Also, she said, combining men's logic and women's empathy creates the best decision making for a vote.
Sharp, Carlson launch ‘Liberty Under Fire USA’
In May, a month after Sharp turned 18, he, Carlson and a friend launched “Liberty Under Fire USA LLC.”
It was the first formal step in implementing Sharp’s vision to pick up where Kirk left off and fulfill the promise he made a year prior to continue campus debates. Instead of handwritten posters with provocative debate prompts, he had professional tarps made that included the new company name and logo.
“LETS TALK. ABORTION IS MURDER,” one sign read. “DEPORT ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS,” said another.
In September 2026, at Mesa Community College and then again at Arizona State University, Sharp and a crew of friends dragged a wagon full of equipment onto the campus quads to debate students passing by.
They put up a canopy, two tables and four cameras pointing in different directions. While two friends monitored the footage and audio levels, another stood watch as "security." One Liberty Under Fire sign was zip-tied in the front, the other in the back. Carlson took some behind-the-scenes photos.
Sharp sat beside his friend and fellow conservative influencer, Ryley Niemi, at the table beneath the tent, waiting for students to approach the microphone in front of them.
Sharp said he previously was more “independent” on abortion “until I really heard Charlie’s perspective and it changed it for me.”
“It’s not their bodies. It’s the body of a female (or male) inside of the mother’s womb. That’s whose body it is,” he argued.
The debate at Mesa Community College lasted about three hours and maintained a steady flow of a couple dozen students watching at a time, peaking at about 50.
Clips from such debates so far have boded well for Sharp.
In August, he shared his follower stats on Meta. He had gained tens of thousands of new followers since January. As of mid-September, Sharp had 165,000 followers on Instagram and 110,000 on TikTok.
The “Liberty Under Fire USA” account, which first posted in January, had 36,000 followers.
Sharp said he's starting to make enough money from his social media platforms to begin to support himself and Carlson, and he hopes to live comfortably in the next year.
In August, the couple attended a campaign stop for Gen Z influencers with Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs. In the future, Sharp hopes to convince Biggs to support a “sin tax” that would impose a 50% income tax on OnlyFans creators, and a "simp tax" that would impose a 50% sales tax on the purchasers.
He also wants to create a political action committee, similar to Turning Point Action, to financially support and elect candidates.
But as Sharp and Carlson have sought to grow their political influence and social media presence, they have become familiar to the controversy and vitriol created in the crucible of conservative teen influencer culture. Over the summer, social media users shared an online allegation that someone sought a protective order against Sharp.
Sharp acknowledged the claims but told The Republic he had not been served any protective order. The Republic could not independently verify the existence of any order.
Other allegations have surfaced that Sharp cheated on Carlson early in their relationship. Carlson said they had worked through those matters privately and that Sharp had "turned a new leaf."
Sharp's mom: 'It's not what I would have picked ... but it's not my life'
For Denise Sharp, Kirk’s impact on her son’s life is welcome even if a little unusual.
She voted for Trump and considers herself a Christian conservative, though she doesn’t agree with all her son and Carlson’s political views.
“I am a single mom and everything I have, I made on my own. And I wouldn’t want not to be able to vote,” Denise Sharp said. “But I love them.”
She sometimes wonders whether her son should consider community college classes and whether he and Carlson are too young to get married.
Taylor Sharp points to his grandparents’ happy, 60-year marriage.
“And I said, ‘You’re right, Taylor, but those were different times,’” Denise Sharp said. “My mom was 16 and pregnant, and my dad just got back from Vietnam, and they got married. … They didn’t really have a choice back then.”
Most of all, Denise Sharp worries for her son’s safety. In August, Taylor Sharp received multiple threatening messages through social media. A passerby at Mesa Community College in September yelled to Sharp, “I wish death upon people like you.”
The vandalization of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk statute with red paint outside the company’s Phoenix headquarters has only amplified his mom’s fears.
But Denise Sharp also thinks about her son’s relentless work ethic and self-determination, and the positives that have come from Kirk’s impact.
The way she sees it, Kirk gave young people structure and hope. While other kids are out living in vans and smoking weed, she said, her son and Carlson are often found studying the Bible in her living room with friends.
“He has a passion for it, and that’s not what I would have picked for him, but it’s not my life. It’s his life,” Denise Sharp said.
Parents say changes in daughter 'almost feels like a death'
Carlson’s parents struggle with their daughter’s changes.
“One of her favorite things to do was drive, and now she says, ‘Oh, women shouldn’t drive.’ And then she’s like, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t vote because we’re emotional creatures.’ And I told her, I was like, ‘Girl, where did this come from?’” Scott Carlson said.
He worries about his daughter’s future financial security. He and Dana Carlson said they never forced college on their daughter but emphasized the importance of “skills that make you marketable.”
“And on the God side of it, God’s given you talent. That girl is brilliant,” Scott Carlson told The Republic. “Why would you not use the skills that God has given you?”
Carlson said he didn’t blame Turning Point but was “frustrated” because he reached out multiple times.
“I said, ‘Are you aware that you guys are saying that you have Christian values, but one of your people that uses your platform to promote himself convinced someone to drop out of high school and started living with each other?’ … They didn’t reply,” Scott Carlson said.
Gianna Carlson disputed her dad’s characterization, saying that her parents were withholding her diploma.
A spokesperson for Turning Point USA declined to comment.
Sharp is not an employee or contributor for Turning Point USA; rather, he said he attends TPUSA’s public events as an invited guest. On Sept. 26, Sharp is slated to speak at the organization’s “Clean up America Tour” in Salt Lake City.
Dana Carlson said her experience is an unusual grief process.
“It almost feels like a death … but I can see her on Instagram. It is the most bizarre feeling. Like, I like lost my child, but she’s still there,” Dana Carlson said.
Sharp, Carlson commit to 'conservative lifestyle' and each other
Carlson's conflict with her parents remains a sore spot.
“No matter what happens, I love my family. I don’t want it to be like this," she said.
Still, she and Sharp are committed to live what they call a “conservative lifestyle.”
On Sept. 18, the couple drove to the Maricopa County Northeast Regional Court in Phoenix. They found an apartment and were moving in the next day, so they needed to get married before living together became "official," as Carlson put it.
Carlson arrived in a white lace dress and heels with painted white nails curled hair. Carlson wore a black suit and tie. But the courthouse told them they'd have to wait hours for a formal ceremony.
Sharp was exasperated.
"I literally have courtside seats," he said, referring to a Professional Pickleball Association tournament later that day in Mesa.
They called a handful of pastors in hopes someone could marry them. When no one picked up, their friend who came along, Hannah Hardison, a Turning Point Action employee, pulled out her phone and got ordained online. She typed out a ceremony speech in the car on the drive to a friend's home in Scottsdale.
Carlson and Sharp tied the knot in a kitchen. They didn't exchange vows, as they hadn't yet prepared any. They plan to have a more formal church wedding in 2027.
"By the authority given to me, about 35 minutes ago, and with God and the people you love as your witnesses, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Hardison said. The ceremony lasted two minutes.
Denise Sharp wiped tears from her eyes. "I just want them to be happy," she said.
Carlson's parents weren't there. Her mom found out about an hour later on social media. She was devastated.
"I thought about Gianna getting married some day and imagined going wedding dress shopping and hosting a bridal shower and watching her walk down the aisle. I didn't get to be a part of any of that," she said.
After the first kiss as a married couple, Hardison prayed over them. Carlson smiled ear to ear.
"I can't believe we actually did that," she said.
Taylor Seely's role covering First Amendment issues at The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com is made possible by a collaboration among Freedom Forum, Journalism Funding Partners and the USA TODAY Network. Freedom Forum does not provide editorial input.
Do you have a story about the government infringing on your freedoms? Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116. She can be reached on Instagram at @taylor.azc.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Charlie Kirk told teens to ditch college and get married. These 2 did
