Conservatives in New Hampshire are moving fast in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, calling for action that ranges from cracking down on public schools to launching a discussion series “modeling civil discourse and open inquiry to young Granite Staters.”
“There is no question there is a lot of energy right now,” said Greg Moore, state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity. “A lot of right-of-center people are feeling more emboldened and aggressive.”
Republicans in the New Hampshire State House have been quick to point to Kirk’s killing as justification for swift movement on a range of party priorities in recent days, including policing school curriculum and the speech of public employees.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne urged his fellow Republican lawmakers to “not shrink from the fight” that he called “the current manifestation of the multigenerational struggle of good versus evil.”
“Now is not the time to lower our voices: It's time to raise them, to incinerate the lies of radical extremism and their platforms of mass destruction,” Osborne wrote in a September 12 newsletter to Republicans. “We must meet their venom with courage, expose their hypocrisy and call their hatred by its true name, evil. Let us not merely reject evil but confront it boldly publicly and decisively.”
Osborne has since announced he’s drafted a bill he’s calling the “The CHARLIE Act,” which among other things would bar New Hampshire teachers from certain teachings about LGBTQ+ “ideology,” or from engaging in anti-constitutional "indoctrination.” The legislation would also require U.S. history to be taught “objectively.”
Read more: New Hampshire Republicans target schools, teachers — in Charlie Kirk’s name
The bill is of a piece with past legislation championed by Republicans in Concord, but Kirk's death is also motivating action in and around the Legislature on a number of fronts.
Rep. Joe Sweeney, the deputy House majority leader, announced Tuesday he had launched a podcast, called “Live Free and Lead.” Sweeney said the podcast intends to highlight “the fights that matter, the people who step up, and the playbook to keep New Hampshire winning.”
In the first episode, Sweeney was quick to note Kirk’s killing prompted him to launch the project — and described it as a call to action for other conservatives.
“Charlie was a 31-year old young father, just like me,” Sweeney said. “My Republican friends and I have seen people celebrating death, leading us to wonder if they would celebrate our passing, too.”
While Republican leaders in the House have been pushing for quick response in the days since Kirk’s killing, not all conservatives are describing the moment in the kind of good-vs-evil rhetoric Osborne and others have employed.
“There's a lot of motivation to get involved and to act, but the movement is kind of splitting on which direction to go,” said Drew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center and a prominent voice in conservative policy debates in the state.
Cline said his think tank will be rebooting an initiative to foster “civil discussions of politics, policy and culture.”
“The idea is to model for young people how to disagree in a civil, respectful manner in the way that our founders envisioned,” Cline said. “That's the path we're taking. But I hear from a lot of people that they want to pass legislation, they want to take over institutions, they want to seize this moment to be active, be engaged, and push back against what they see as a culture that's pushed back against them for a long time.”
Rep. Alexis Simpson, the House’s top Democrat, was quick to criticize Osborne for the tenor of his messaging in the wake of Kirk’s killing.
“When our state and our nation are reeling from political violence, it is appalling that House Majority Leader Jason Osborne would call to ‘turn up the heat,’ ” Simpson said. “Words matter, and dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric like this puts lives at risk.”
With 2026 elections still more than a year away, the ultimate effect of Kirk’s killing on political outcomes is impossible to know. But some Republicans think it only stands to reason that his violent death could cast a lingering pall over core aspects of politics everywhere.
“Good people will be asking themselves, ‘Do I really want to put myself at risk of being shot at, or the threat of violence?’,” said Moore of Americans for Prosperity.
Moore added that safety concerns are already causing security consultants to advise his group and candidates to tighten access to political gatherings, including ending outdoor events and requiring attendees at all campaign-style events to show photo ID.
“It’s the guidance we’re getting,” Moore said. “Think of the effect that would have on the retail campaigning we do here.”
