Danica Patrick to join TPUSA panel after Charlie | Sports News

Former NASCAR and IndyCar star Danica Patrick has been introduced as a speaker for Turning Point USA’s 2025 AmericaFest, three months after the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated. Patrick, 43, has grow to be more and more energetic within the political space lately, serving as a vocal and staunch defender of President Donald Trump, in addition to talking at political summits, together with some organized by Turning Point USA.

Patrick stated that her introduction to politics got here on the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) AmFest convention in December 2023, which she attended as a spectator alongside her sister. The expertise, coupled with the online backlash she confronted for being there, motivated her to have interaction more actively in politics and finally return to converse on the occasion a 12 months later.

The former racing driver remained buddies with Kirk and the TPUSA household and was devastated to study of the father-of-two’s killing on Sept. 10 whereas holding an occasion at a Utah faculty campus. The day after Kirk’s death, Patrick posted heartfelt messages to Kirk on Instagram, together with pictures of the pair, and opened up on the affect the political activist had on her life.

“I don’t know where to start…. @charliekirk1776 was a great American, husband, father, leader, man of faith, business man, boss, speaker, and inspiration to millions,” Patrick stated. “His mission to bring conservative values into high schools and colleges helped make being a republican cool again in the youth.

“He was ready to take a rally and switch it into a high power enjoyable social gathering! He was ready to take his imaginative and prescient and keenness and switch it into actuality. He constructed @turningpointusa, acquired married, had two stunning youngsters, and have become one of probably the most highly effective influences in politics…… all by 31 years outdated. Remarkable. It’s in instances like these that we’ve to take a look at humanity and ask why these items occur after which probably the most important query…..what can we do subsequent?

“I don’t have the answer. But I know it’s not fight fire with fire, even though anger is a dominant emotion. We need an answer that will change the world forever. God, please help us. And maybe I could also say… Charlie, help us from heaven… as his energy for gods work never seemed to run out.”

She added: “I got into politics because of @charliekirk1776. It truly was my turning point. Amfest was my first political event December of 2023, with my sister.

“The backlash I acquired for attending lit a fire below my ass and I spoke the following 12 months on the identical occasion on prime of campaigning for @realdonaldtrump. I’ll converse again in 2025. I’m not sure what to anticipate, different than one factor…the place Charlie left off, we’ll proceed. With all that we’ve.”

Alongside Patrick, several other notable speakers are scheduled to appear at the event, including Vice President JD Vance, Kirk’s widow, Erika, former FOX News host Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and more. A notable absence from TPUSA events in the aftermath of Kirk’s death is Candace Owens.

Owens was friends with Kirk during TPUSA’s ascendance in American politics. However, in recent years, they weren’t as close as they were in the years before.

Recently, Owens has been embroiled in a spat with Kirk’s widow, Erika, who has accused her of having “Meghan Markle syndrome,” which she explained as wanting to “decide and select” her privateness.