{"id":10273,"date":"2025-10-18T21:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T21:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/10273\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T21:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T21:44:08","slug":"sarasota-tribute-for-charlie-kirk-draws-thousands-top-florida-republicans-attend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/10273\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarasota tribute for Charlie Kirk draws thousands, top Florida Republicans attend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conservative luminaries from across Florida gathered at Sarasota\u2019s Robarts Arena on Saturday to eulogize Charlie Kirk<\/a>, in a memorial that blended messages of optimism and unity with ones to maintain the fight against the political left. <\/p>\n

The memorial coincided with its diametric opposite: the anti-Trump \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest held in downtown Sarasota<\/a> \u2014 one of thousands across the country on Saturday \u2014about a mile and a half west of Robarts Arena.<\/p>\n

Both events drew approximately 3,000 attendees, according to local police.<\/p>\n

Who attended the Charlie Kirk tribute in Sarasota?<\/p>\n

The arena appeared about three-fifths full, but the crowd was enthusiastic. Attendees included a mix of older political supporters and families with children, all gathered to memorialize Kirk \u2014 the 31-year-old conservative activist who was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University in September. Speakers included Florida Senate President-designate Jim Boyd, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, and Sarasota State Representative Fiona McFarland.<\/p>\n

Sarasota County Commissioner Teresa Mast spoke about how her colleagues had unanimously supported her motion to rename a portion of Fruitville Road<\/a> to \u201cCharlie Kirk Memorial Road.\u201d The Manatee County Commission approved a similar measure<\/a> for 51st Street in the Bradenton area. <\/p>\n

The hour-and-a-half-long memorial that began Saturday morning teetered between a tribute to the life and times of Charlie Kirk, the provocative conservative activist known as a warrior in digital media for Christian conservatism, and a political rally for the Republican Party and against Democrats and the left. <\/p>\n

The most unifying message came from State Rep. Denny Nix of Charlotte County, who spoke about coming together in the wake of Kirk\u2019s death, and the courage of Ericka Kirk, Charlie\u2019s wife, to say she forgave her husband\u2019s assassin. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s all take this as a challenge to start that conversation with our neighbors, live our lives better, run for office, vote with conviction, engage with respect, and build a coalition out of consciousness,\u201d Nix said. <\/p>\n

However, Sarasota Congressman Greg Steube was less conciliatory and took aim at the \u201cforces of darkness\u201d that clouded the affair: Democrats, communists, secularists, and those who sought to \u201creplace the cross with the rainbow flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no mere cultural shift. It is a demonic assault on the very soul of the United States,\u201d Steube said. \u201cThe left wants to slit the throat of our freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n

Steube\u2019s forceful speech was followed by the only standing ovation of the day and a \u201cUSA\u201d chant from mourners. <\/p>\n

Chris Vercelli watched most of the memorial with his daughter, Natalie, atop his shoulders. An evangelical minister with Awaken 941, Vercelli spent the earlier part of the morning proselytizing at the anti-Trump No Kings Protest just a mile east in Sarasota, where he said he encountered the enemy that Charlie Kirk dedicated his life to fight against. <\/p>\n

Vercelli pulled up on his phone sections of The Naked Communist, an anti-leftist treatise by the political theorist W. Cleon Skousen, that were read on the floor of the U.S. House in 1963. The minister said he felt the country was waking up, spiritually, to communist infiltration of the churches, schools, and governmental institutes over the past 50 to 60 years; events like Kirk\u2019s death only served to wake up the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best-case scenario is that people rise up with boldness to speak out against what is going on,\u201d Vercelli said. \u201cTo be set free by the power of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian Casale<\/a> covers local government for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email him at ccasale@gannett.com or christiancasale@protonmail.com. Follow the Herald-Tribune on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota tribute for Charlie Kirk draws thousands<\/a><\/p>\n