On the first anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the American conservative movement has answered the question of who inherits his institutions. His widow, Erika Kirk, took over the leadership of Turning Point USA, the company he co-founded, after his passing. The harder question is who inherits his microphone.
Kirk was the single most influential media voice for young conservatives in America. His audience was young, online, and, unlike prior generations, reached mainly through short-form video and podcasts rather than cable television. Any successor has to compete on those platforms.
A Newsweek analysis found that women are leading the race to fill this specific vacuum. Over the past 12 months, the candidates who have grown fastest are women working in the podcast and social media spaces that Kirk helped to define for the right. Eviane Leidig, author of The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization, told Newsweek, “It is very significant that the top-ranked figures in conservative digital media are women, when a decade ago it was male-dominated.” “It demonstrates that the conservative movement has effectively normalized its messaging on traditional family values which are embodied through these female figures,” Leidig said.
She added that Erika Kirk’s position as the CEO of Turning Point USA ushered in a “new era of female-led conservatism.” Newsweek scored various candidates out of 100 on five weighted measures: youth-platform reach, audience growth between September 2025 and September 2026, Gen Z platform penetration, conservative-media influence and access and mobilization infrastructure such as recurring shows, events and organizational backing. Newsweek reached out to Turning Point USA and representatives from the five voices mentioned for comment. Alex Clark is a breakout voice in the conservative media space, and the host of the Turning Point USA podcast Culture Apothecary and POPlitics.
On YouTube, she has over 800,000 followers. Culture Apothecary has regularly ranked in the top 10 of health and wellness podcasts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify since launching in September 2024. Its Make America Healthy Again–adjacent wellness lane reaches a young female audience.
Brett Cooper commands a large raw audience, with her show The Brett Cooper Show on YouTube, where she has 1.7 million followers. She gained national attention as a UCLA student criticizing COVID lockdowns. She hosted The Comments Section with Brett Cooper, produced by The Daily Wire, from March 2022 to December 2024 before launching The Brett Cooper Show independently.
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