Charlie Kirk was friendly with lots of politicians. In fact, Vice President JD Vance's close friendship with Charlie Kirk was one of the reasons the former Ohio senator was tapped as President Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. But there's another, somewhat surprising, politician who was also quite close with the conservative firebrand: California Governor Gavin Newsom. This might shock some people, given that Newsom and Kirk stood on opposite sides of the political aisle, but the two men established a rapport after Kirk sat down for the debut episode of Newsom's podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom," in March 2025.

After the Turning Point USA CEO was fatally shot onstage on September 10, 2025, Newsom confirmed that the two men continued communicating in the months following their chat. "He wa

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