Vice President JD Vance has pulled out of a scheduled Turning Point USA event with Erika Kirk, weeks after she snubbed him at a similar event in Georgia.
TPUSA confirmed to The Daily Beast that Kirk, the husband of its co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was killed at an event last summer, would take to the stage at the Iowa State University alone Thursday.
It comes after Vance suffered an embarrassing experience at the University of Georgia, during which he was heckled while speaking to the largely empty arena.
Kirk, who was scheduled to speak alongside him, pulled out of the event at the last minute, citing security concerns.
“I was so looking forward to tonight’s event at the @universityofga with our Vice President @JDVance, but after all our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously. Thank you to our amazing Georgia chapter for your support. God bless you all!” Kirk wrote.
Vance acknowledged her concerns, telling the mostly empty auditorium. “I love Erika, and I know that she did get some threats.”
“About two hours ago... I was a little worried that we were going to have to cancel the event because Erika was not going to come, and she was very worried about it.”
Erika Kirk’s husband, Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a TPUSA event at the Utah Valley University on September 10, during his American Comeback tour. The incident sparked intense backlash and outrage from conservatives, and it was described by authorities as a “political assassination.”
Later in the Georgia event, the vice president was heckled by an attendee, who confronted him on the ongoing war in Iran, and shouted: “Jesus Christ does not support genocide.”
“Yes, I agree, Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide... I think that’s a pretty easy principle,” Vance replied, to which the heckler responded again: “You’re killing children, you’re bombing children!”
Thursday’s event comes shortly after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and other members of the administration during the annual White House Correspondents dinner in Washington, D.C.
Both Vance and Kirk attended the dinner, with footage showing Vance being walked off the dais by Secret Service agents after shots rang out and Kirk being led away looking distraught.
“Saturday was yet another traumatic example of the evil in our country and the continued rise in political violence. I’m taking time to spend with my family,” Kirk wrote after.
The Independent has contacted the White House and TPUSA for comment on the vice president’s absence and whether it was related to Saturday’s incident.
Organizers for the TPUSA event told CBS News that Vance’s cancellation was unrelated.
“To be clear, this is not due to security concerns related to recent events,” a TPUSA spokesperson said in a statement shared with the outlet “This is simply a matter of scheduling conflicts.”
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