MESA, AZ — At a table on the campus of Mesa Community College, microphones are on, cameras are rolling and students are lining up to debate everything from politics and religion to culture and public policy.
For a growing group of Gen Z conservative influencers, the format is familiar and intentional.
They say they're carrying on the style popularized by conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who built a national following by engaging college students in public debates and posting the exchanges online.
“I first started about two years ago, but I really started to kick it off and spent a lot of money on it starting about a year ago,” said conservative influencer Ryley Niemi. “I started about a month and a half before he died.”
Niemi said he spent years watching Kirk's campus debates, where the Turning Point USA founder frequently challenged viewpoints expressed by students at colleges and universities across the country.
Now, Niemi has built a sizable following of his own.
With roughly 84,000 followers on Instagram, he said his audience extends far beyond the students standing in front of his camera.
“My goal here is to make content that's not to change the mind of the liberal that I'm debating,” Niemi said. “It's meant to change the mind of the millions of viewers that watch my videos.”
The approach reflects a broader trend among younger political influencers who use short-form social media content to amplify conversations that begin in person but ultimately reach much larger online audiences.
Taylor Sharp, another conservative content creator participating in the campus events, said Kirk's willingness to publicly defend his beliefs inspired him to pursue similar work.
“That's what inspired me is just the courage,” Sharp said. “The courage for his faith and the courage to be out there and face his opponents down face to face.”
Sharp said his online following has grown significantly since he began creating political content full-time.
He believes public debates encourage people to examine their own views, whether they agree with him or not.
“It's also very essential for our society to have these conversations because once the conversation stops, the violence occurs, and that's what Charlie Kirk said,” Sharp said.
At Mesa Community College, the formula appeared to be working as students gathered around debate tables throughout the event. Some eagerly stepped to the microphone to challenge the speakers, while others watched from the sidelines.
Not everyone was convinced the purpose is genuine dialogue.
“I don't think it's more about changing minds,” said Mesa Community College student Pumita Ahmed. “I think it's more about getting attention.”
For Niemi and Sharp, however, the mission remains focused on continuing a style of engagement they associate with Kirk's legacy.
As political conversations increasingly move online, both say they plan to keep bringing cameras and microphones directly to college campuses.
“This is definitely going to be one of the main things that I'm doing,” Niemi said. “And I'll always keep on doing content for the rest of my life.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
