County officials in Texas are backtracking on a proposal to rename a road to honor conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed last year during a college event in Utah.
Bastrop County officials were going to designate a portion of FM 969 the “Charlie Kirk Corridor,” but a fiery response from locals forced them to back down, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
While such a renaming might have been welcome in some parts of the state, the section of road officials wanted to rename is only 30 minutes from Austin, one of the Lone Star State’s largest Democratic enclaves.
Bastrop County Commissioner David Glass claimed that “Kirk’s activism emphasized civic participation, free speech, and political engagement among youth, building a national network of student activists and influencing political discourse on college campuses and beyond.”
But Kirk also remains a controversial figure, known just as much in liberal circles for his inflammatory comments as he is for his organizing among conservatives.
Kirk’s reputation among non-conservatives inspired more than 100 locals to protest the proposed road renaming during a county commissioners meeting on Monday.
The pushback wasn’t all in public, either. Glass told the Austin American-Statesman that his email inbox was inundated with angry messages opposing the plan.
He told the paper he was going to have more conversations with constituents before proceeding and later announced he was scrapping the plan entirely.
“Not all of us are going to agree, but we can agree to disagree,” Glass said. “I absolutely don’t agree with everything Charlie Kirk said.”
During the meeting, some of the angry constituents simply held small signs bearing the word “NO,” while others gave impassioned arguments against the road renaming, some of which were met with applause, according to the paper.
Dock Jackson, a Democratic candidate for county judge, told the paper he opposed the renaming because Kirk has no connection to the area.
“Charlie Kirk, to my knowledge, has no relatives or connection to Bastrop County. I do not feel the court should pass a resolution endorsing this street name change,” he told the paper.
Kirk was born and raised outside of Chicago and later lived in Florida and Arizona but did not have any residences in or around Austin.
Ruth Todd, a Democrat running for the county’s Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, argued that Kirk was a divider of people, not a unifier, and thus would be inappropriate as the namesake for a public road.
“Charlie Kirk was one of the most polarizing figures in politics,” Todd said. “Naming a road in his honor does not unite the community… it sends a message to a significant portion of our community that their comfort in their home county does not matter.”
Even though Kirk won’t have a road named after him near Austin, he’ll still get his own memorial highway elsewhere in Texas.
On Saturday, Hood County commissioners announced they were designating a two-mile section of Williamson Road near Granbury as the “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway.” Signage will mark the roadway, though it will retain its Williamson Road designation for mapping and addresses.
The Hood County commissioners issued a statement proclaiming Kirk a “steadfast voice for moral clarity and truth in public discourse,” according to KERA News.
A similar renaming has also been approved in Arizona.
That state’s Republican-controlled Senate approved SB 1010 on Wednesday, designating the Phoenix-area Loop 202 as the Charlie Kirk Loop 202. Signs will be installed to reflect the change.
“Designating Loop 202 ensures his contribution to civic engagement and public participation won’t be forgotten. Let this name stand as a daily reminder of the importance of promoting American ideals,” state Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican from Gilbert who sponsored the bill, said in an email to AZ Family.
