Erika Kirk is marking the first Valentine’s Day without her late husband, right-wing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
“What I would give for one more love letter… They had such a deep reverence about them,” Erika, 37, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, February 14, alongside a photo of a letter she received from her late husband prior to his untimely death.
“You’d intentionally set aside the noise of the world and hand me words that felt sacred filled with a depth of love both of us could never quite articulate,” she continued in the caption. “I read it all even slower now. And as I read your words, the weight on my heart reminds me of a reality that we were never promised gray hair and rocking chairs even though we assumed it was guaranteed. But my goodness, do I love telling the babies about the fullness of our covenant that left a mark on my soul. My favorite love story.”
Charlie was shot and killed in September 2025 while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was 31.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we, the Turning Point USA leadership team, write to notify you that early this afternoon, Charlie went to his eternal reward with Jesus Christ in heaven,” a statement from Turning Point USA read at the time, confirming the political activist’s death.
After a 33-hour manhunt, a 22-year-old suspect turned himself into authorities at the behest of his parents, was subsequently arrested and charged for allegedly murdering Charlie. He is currently being held without bail in a Utah jail. If convicted, the 22-year-old faces the death penalty.
Erika has since taken over as CEO of Turning Point USA, the right-wing conservative nonprofit cofounded by Charlie and Bill Montgomery in 2012. In the midst of pyrotechnic-heavy public remembrances, numerous public appearances, conservative in-fighting and a controversial hug with Vice President JD Vance, Erika has been outspoken about her personal experience with grief.
“…there is no linear blueprint for grief. One day you’re collapsed on the floor crying out the name Jesus in between labored breaths,” Erika, 36, wrote via Instagram in October 2025. “The next you’re playing with your children in the living rooms surrounded by family photos, and feeling a rush of something you can only attempt to define as divinely planted and bittersweet joy as a smile breaks through your face.”
She continued at the time, “They say time heals. But love doesn’t ask to be healed. Love asks to be remembered. It’s humbling to realize that this magnitude of suffering didn’t steal my love for my husband. It amplified it. It crystallized it.”
On Valentine’s Day 2026, Erika went on to urge her followers to “honor the Sabbath this weekend with your loved ones.”
“And if you’re married, take a minute to sit down and write to them a love letter. One that shows you see them, you love them, you honor them, and you want to continue to be better for them,” she added. “A letter like this might seem trivial, but you just never know the course life will take, if the Lord calls you home, even in your absence, as they reflect on your words, your love is still serving them.”
She concluded with a specific message to her late husband, “I love you Charlie baby, you will always be my Valentine.”
