Erika Kirk supports J.D. Vance’s potential 2028 presidential bid at the Turning Point USA conference

PHOENIX (AP) — Erica Kirk, widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the organization’s new leader, endorsed a potential presidential bid by Vice President J.D. Vance on opening night of the young conservative group’s annual conference.

He watches: Vance joins University of Mississippi’s Erica Kirk for the Turning Point USA event

After telling the cheering crowd that Tipping Point would help keep Congress in Republican hands next year, she said, “We’re going to get my husband’s friend J.D. Vance elected to the 48-seat term the best way we can.”

Vance will be the 48th president if he takes office after President Donald Trump.

Kirk’s statement Thursday is the most visible support for Vance’s potential nomination by a woman appointed as steward of her late husband’s legacy. Charlie Kirk became an influencer and bridge builder within the conservative movement before his assassination in September.

Vance was close to Charlie Kirk, whose support helped enable his rapid political rise. After the assassination, Vance and his wife joined Erica Kirk in Utah to transport her husband’s remains to Arizona on Air Force One.

Vance is scheduled to speak to Turning Point on Sunday, the final day of the conference. The conference featured the usual spectacle and energy that characterized the organization’s events, but the proceedings were also marred by intense infighting between conservative commentators and estranged allies who had turned on each other in the wake of Kirk’s death.

As President Trump’s running mate, Vance is well-positioned to inherit the movement that reshaped the Republican Party and twice sent Trump to the White House. But it will be no simple task for him to hold together Trump’s coalition, which is based more on personal loyalty to him than shared political goals.

Various wings of the conservative movement are already preparing to guide the party after a Trump presidency, skirmishes that are becoming increasingly public and specific.

Turning Point, with thousands of young volunteers, would provide a major boost to Vance in a tense primary. Now 41, Vance would be the first millennial president if elected, a natural fit for an organization built on youth mobilization.

Trump has repeatedly considered running for a third term despite the constitutional ban. However, he also speculated about a 2028 ticket that includes Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Although Rubio previously ran for president in 2016, he has said he would support Vance as Trump’s successor.

Brown reported from Washington.