LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is to take his place at the head of youth action campaign group Turning Point USA, officials announced Thursday.

Two days after her husband was shot dead on a university campus, allegedly by a 22-year-old gunman, Erika Kirk told supporters: “The movement my husband built will not die.”

Now the organisation’s board says Kirk will take her husband’s place as its leader.

“The Turning Point Board has unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board,” a post on X said Thursday.

“In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death.”

Kirk’s death last week sparked a wave of mourning among conservatives for a man they hailed as a champion of free speech and Christian values.

President Donald Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff, and Vice President JD Vance flew to collect Kirk’s body from Utah in a highly unusual display of official grief for a civilian.

The shooting also laid bare the divisions in American society, with conservatives organising to punish anyone they deemed was not being sufficiently respectful of Kirk’s death.

There have been multiple reports of people being fired after they made social media posts that cheered his death or mocked Kirk.

Late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday became the latest scalp when the ABC network said it was suspending his “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show indefinitely.

That came after conservatives took umbrage at comments Kimmel made about the motive of the alleged shooter, and after the federal government threated to pull broadcast licenses from channels that did not take a stand against him.