This Idaho state highway won’t bear Charlie Kirk’s name after all. What happened?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Idaho lawmakers never introduced anticipated bill for a “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway.”
- Christian lobbying group behind effort said legislators disagreed on the best approach.
- Future of initiative is unclear; similar efforts have had mixed results in other states.
Idaho drivers won’t be driving down a Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway, at least not anytime soon.
The plan to rename Idaho’s State Highway 16 in honor of the conservative activist, who was killed in Utah in September, never made it to the Statehouse floor for consideration.
The Idaho Family Policy Center, the conservative Christian lobbying group behind the effort, announced in November that it was working with state lawmakers to have a bill introduced at the Legislative session’s start in January.
Now, as the session near its final moments, no such legislation has been introduced. Why? Lawmakers couldn’t agree on the best “approach” for honoring Kirk, according to the center’s policy director, Joel Fischer.
“Our initial discussions with legislative leaders revealed strong support for the traditional values Charlie represented,” said Fischer in a statement provided to the Idaho Statesman. “While there was broad agreement on honoring him, there were differing perspectives on which approach was best. As a result, we chose not to move forward with introducing our proposed legislation.”
Fischer said it was “too soon to say” whether similar legislation could be expected next session. But he said the policy center planned to continue to work with lawmakers to “ensure that the legacy of Charlie Kirk is appropriately memorialized here in Idaho.”
A spokesperson for the center did not respond to follow up questions from the Statesman about which lawmakers were working on the proposed legislation or where the disagreement stemmed.
KTVB earlier reported on the initiative losing steam.
Efforts to memorialize Kirk falter in Idaho, elsewhere
In a November news release, center President Blaine Conzatti said that renaming the highway after Kirk would “serve as a reminder that free speech and Christian faith are vital for a functioning constitutional republic — and that we ought never tolerate political violence as a response to robust civil discourse.”
“Our state should recognize Charlie’s legacy and stand up to those who would kill us for sharing our Christian faith and our political viewpoints,” Conzatti said.
In an email to the Statesman, a spokesperson for the Idaho Transportation Department confirmed that the department’s District 3 had not been directly approached regarding the proposal. District 3 encompasses Southwest Idaho, including the entirety of the state highway lobbyists sought to rename.
Idaho 16 snakes from the northwestern reaches of Ada County north to Gem County, and the transportation department is in the midst of a more than $400 million project to extend it south to Interstate 84.
The ITD spokesperson, Jill Youmans, noted Wednesday that “naming or designating highways is a legislative action,” which does not include the transportation department.
The Legislature has renamed nine highways or bridges in the state in memory of individuals with connections to Idaho, the Statesman previously reported. Those include mostly military veterans, as well as a local politician and a journalist.
Kirk grew up in Illinois and founded the Arizona-based nonprofit Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative politics on high school and higher education campuses. He spoke at events at Boise State University in 2021 and 2025, according to the November release.
Stating that Kirk’s influence “extends to Idaho,” the release listed Turning Point USA student chapters at Boise State, University of Idaho, Idaho State University, College of Southern Idaho, North Idaho College, New Saint Andrews College, Northwest Nazarene University, and BYU-Idaho.
Similar initiatives to rename highways and bridges in the wake of Kirk’s death received mixed results in other states. On Tuesday, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have named a prominent highway after the activist in his home state.
