Charlie Kirk brought young voters to the GOP. Now they’re looking toward 2026.

On a warm October night, around a dozen members of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls College Republicans began their monthly meeting in a small student center conference room. A projection of President Donald Trump at the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk shone brightly on a screen at one end of the room. Below Trump, in white block lettering, was the assignment.

“Icebreaker,” the caption read. “First EO (executive order) you would sign as President.”

The answers ran the gamut.

Ban the trading of stocks by members of Congress, said one student. Increase the amount of federal loans college students can take out, suggested another. There were calls to make the U.S. government officially recognize only male and female genders and to define Catholicism as the nation’s official religion. Mixed in was a joke about banning the import of Labubus, the popular, furry monster figurines.

The meeting agenda included information about political internships where students can earn college credit, but for the most part, they attend meetings like this because they like to.

Senior Isa Blett said she was transitioning out of her “center-left phase” when she got to UW-River Falls. She found a home in the Republican Party by watching videos of Charlie Kirk, the conservative founder of the group Turning Point USA who was assassinated on Sept. 10.

“I would see Turning Point shorts on YouTube and see this very kind guy who actually cared about his opponents and wanted to hear them out,” Blett said. “So, when he passed away, that was the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching moment of my life.”

These young Republicans say the world they grew up in formed their politics. Blett said people her age were shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were “robbed” of the socializing experience of high school.

“We were expected to just get over it,” Blett said. “And in some way or another, it had lifelong effects on us.”

Senior Dylan Stryhn said he thinks the growth of social media and content from groups like Turning Point resonates with young men who are “feeling isolated.” The way Stryhn sees it, liberals are constantly attacking young men, “saying it’s all our fault, we all are the reason why the world sucks.”

Stryhn said he’d been thinking of moving away from politics. He said that changed when Kirk was assassinated.

“It kind of woke me up,” Stryhn said. “I realized that we can’t give up, and that the Lord doesn’t want us to give up.”

Read the rest of the article HERE on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR).