Charlie Kirk urged Americans to keep talking to one another. We agree.

Although I did not know Charlie Kirk, I met him once in the summer of 2019. Through the kindness of a mutual donor, I was seated with Charlie at the head table at a Turning Point USA dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

Charlie, at that time only 25 years old, struck me as a hyperfocused, serious young man, almost a little shy when he was chatting with people he didn’t know well. Yet the moment he walked up to the microphone and addressed the room of at least 1,000 mostly college students, I knew he was a phenomenon. The crowd, and this includes me, hung on his every word.

NumbersUSA doesn’t take a position on most of the issues that Kirk addressed, but his commitment to public debate is one that we have long shared.

Since that summer night six years ago, I’ve watched with millions of other Americans as Charlie developed into a man so persuasive, so ready to debate all comers, so passionate about his beliefs–faith, freedom, the protection of the American people–that his ideas spread through a generation of young people. Charlie was, in my view, the most influential American under the age of 40.

On immigration, Charlie came to view not only illegal immigration as a threat to American security, but he also articulated that mass immigration, both legal and illegal, was a harm to ordinary Americans. We strongly agreed with him that immigration numbers have to come down.

If anyone in America was doing politics the right way, it was Charlie Kirk. He always made it a point to talk to anyone, including his many, many critics, listening to them objecting to his views and expressing their own, very often showing by contrast his devastating logic, clear articulation, and clever turns of phrases. He was not everyone’s cup of tea, but he engaged. He urged Americans to keep talking, to keep engaging. He warned often that when people stop talking, things can get dangerous. He warned often that America was in danger of developing an assasination culture. Tragically, he was right.

We can honor Charlie Kirk by emulating his commitment to open dialogue and civil debate. I say we rededicate ourselves to peaceful political engagement with people who have very different views from our own. Fellow Americans, I say we together find our courage and LEAN INTO doing the great work of democracy. That is what Charlie would want.

I honor Charlie Kirk. I grieve for his loss. I pray for his widow and little orphaned children. Like Charlie, and I hope like everyone reading this document, I will continue to speak; I will stay engaged to the end.