Loudoun County official condemns Kirk’s politics whereas mourning his dying

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The chairwoman of the Loudoun County, Virginia board of supervisors criticized murdered political activist Charlie Kirk whereas expressing compassion for his household throughout roundtable remarks at September’s assembly.

Loudoun, about 30 miles west of Washington, is a formerly-Republican bastion that has swung exhausting to the left and change into ground-zero in latest election seasons as a distinguished web site for tradition warfare battles – together with transgender school restroom policies which have marked the 2021 and 2025 statewide contests.

A number of members of the Democratic-majority board spoke throughout their month-to-month public huddle in Leesburg, providing differing remembrances of Kirk , who was murdered throughout one among his well-known collegiate talking engagements.

Chairwoman Phyllis Randall, an at-large Democrat, stated Wednesday that as a therapist by-trade, she understands folks can maintain multiple emotion at a time and the "great complexity of humanity."

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Charlie Kirk speaks at CPAC in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

"Clearly, no individual must be gunned down. No individual must be murdered. Not youngsters in colleges, not lawmakers of their properties, not political antagonists," she stated.

"On the identical time, I do not really feel the necessity to sugarcoat or ignore or gloss over among the habits that Mr. Kirk, himself, engaged in whereas he was dwelling … A dying, even a horrible dying, doesn't mechanically erase the hurt an individual did in his life. For my part, Charlie Kirk engaged in selling political violence and division."

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"Whereas I maintain empathy for Mr. Kirk -- Actually, I maintain empathy and compassion for our total nation proper now. And I pray for our nation as an individual of religion … God understands that I am combating these emotions," she stated.

She reiterated that Kirk shouldn't have been murdered however that whereas in life, Kirk "pressed in opposition to my neighborhood."

Randall, who's Black, alleged Kirk additionally "put many communities in elevated hazard."

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Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall speaks at IAD in 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Photographs)

Supervisor Caleb Kerschner of Hamilton, one among two Republicans on the board, stated in his public remarks that the nation hadn’t seen a political determine murdered so publicly because the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Kennedy brothers.

"What makes it much more chilling is it seems to be finished in political ideological causes: One thing we'd see in different nations, however not America," Kerschner stated.

Kerschner added that probably the most disturbing improvement following Kirk’s murder has been "web trolls and radical people" celebrating the killing.

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"It's one factor to oppose and argue the ideology of somebody you disagree with. It's fairly one other to advertise violence in direction of such people. America was constructed on the ideas of freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of debate, and particular person liberty. Nobody can deny or disagree that Charlie lived by this and overtly inspired discourse from any who would interact," he stated.

The board’s vice chairman, Michael Turner, a Democrat from Ashburn, echoed Kerschner in recounting rising up within the Sixties when political violence was final at its peak.

"We're in a tit-for-tat throughout the board at each degree of our society for hatred," stated Turner.

Within the wake of Kirk’s homicide, he stated he desires to be extra understanding of opposing views.

"I've a pal who’s a MAGA -- he's a pal, however he’s a MAGA -- I don’t fairly know tips on how to reconcile that, however I do every single day as a result of he is a pal," he stated.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox Information Digital.

He joined Fox Information in 2013 as a author and manufacturing assistant.

Charles covers media , politics and tradition for Fox Information Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple College with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story ideas will be despatched to charles.creitz@fox.com.