Meet the Teen Conservative Hailed as Kirk’s Protege

The teen widely hailed as Charlie Kirk’s protege looked up to the conservative influencer as his mentor — and has vowed to get “louder” and “bolder,” even as the death threats against him have skyrocketed in the wake of his idol’s assassination.

Brilyn Hollyhand, a 19-year-old dubbed “the internet’s youngest voice of reason,” has seen his popularity surge ever since he landed an interview with the Turning Points USA founder as a pint-sized fourth-grader back in 2018.

Since then, Hollyhand has drawn in nearly half a million followers on social media, has been rallying young conservatives in Kirk-like style across the country, and has been described as the conservative activist’s heir.

But in the wake of Kirk’s public execution, Hollyhand told The Post on Monday he could never emulate his late mentor-turned-friend, but will “do what the Lord has given me the opportunity to do.”

“Charlie has very huge shoes to fill. Not just because he was a man with a large shoe size but because, like, legitimately, nobody can replace him,” he said.

“My goal is not to be Charlie, it’s to be Brilyn and to do what the Lord has given me the opportunity to do. If I can do half of the work that Charlie Kirk did in his time on this earth, then I’ll count that as a success.”

Hollyhand’s rise to conservative stardom unfolded back when the then-11-year-old launched a podcast but was struggling to book guests. The conservative whiz kid also founded The Truth Gazette, a conservative political website.

“He didn’t need to go on the Brilyn Hollyhand show with a fourth grader, but he did and he gave me that opportunity,” he said.

“There are so many people that you interview that you never talk to again, but he genuinely stayed a mentor and a friend through the past eight years of my political career.”

The college freshman said he was even texting with Kirk just hours before he was gunned down on stage during Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

“We were speaking that morning because he had just seen me on Fox and he texted to turn around and be like, ‘Hey, man, you did such a great job this morning, so proud of you.’”

He added they went on to speak about how Kirk was excited for the first stop of the now-fatal campus tour.

Now, Hollyhand — who was named co-chair of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council in 2023 — is about to kick off his own 10-stop tour of universities across the country.

The newly announced “One Conversation at a Time” tour, which is being sponsored by Turning Points in the wake of Kirk’s death, will kick off at the University of Arkansas on Thursday.

Hollyhand acknowledged, though, that the threats against him have more than tripled following Kirk’s slaying.

“I feel like I’m living a completely different life than I woke up in, you know, a few Wednesdays ago before he passed,” he said, noting that campus security now escorts him to classes at Auburn University in Alabama.

“My threat level has tripled. I’ve got a security team now,” he said.

Hollyhand said those close to him have been advising him not to embark on the tour, but he was adamant that carrying on Kirk’s legacy far outweighed the risks.

“That’s what they want. The coward who assassinated my friend wanted to shut my generation up and instead he woke us up,” he said.

“I feel like this is a time where we have to get louder, we have to get bolder, we have to get more courageous, because that’s the life that Charlie loves. And so we can’t cower, we can’t be silent, we have to go to these campuses now, more than ever before,” he continued.

“He lived and died for that and that’s why I kind of feel this calling to keep doing that.”

Since they first sat down together eight years ago, Hollyhand said Kirk’s advice had always stayed with him – and was even referenced by President Trump during the conservative activist’s memorial service in Arizona on Sunday.

“When I asked him for inspiration, of you know, ‘what should I do… just to keep fighting this movement at such a young age?’ He looked at me, and I’ll never forget it. He said, ‘Brilyn, the left will always out-fundraise us, but they’re never going to outwork us.’

“They never outworked Charlie. He always took the time to continue fighting for this country. They could not outwork him, so they had to kill him,” Hollyhand said.