A Senate bill to honor late conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a roadway designation in Florida’s most populous county advanced through its first committee with full GOP support and none from Democrats.
The measure (SB 174), sponsored by Doral Republican Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, would rename a 1-mile stretch of Southwest 107th Avenue alongside Florida International University as “Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue.”
Rodriguez said the goal is to recognize Kirk’s civic participation and youth engagement, not his ideology or controversial things he said.
But Kissimmee Democratic Sen. Kristen Arrington countered that ignoring Kirk’s rhetoric in the legislative process won’t stop people from wondering why the state would honor someone who, among other things, questioned the qualifications of Black pilots, said “prowling Blacks” routinely target White people in urban areas, and perpetuated the “great replacement theory.”
“When Floridians and visitors are visiting and they say, ‘Who is this?’ and if they don’t know, they look them up online,” she said. “I think some of the things they have seen Charlie Kirk has said will … disgust them.”
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed at a Utah university campus on Sept. 10. His death has been mourned nationally and internationally.
Kirk lived part-time in Florida. He owned a home in the Sarasota County portion of Longboat Key, an affluent municipality of some 7,500 residents. Kirk did not involve himself in local politics while there, several members of the Town Commission told Florida Politics.
Rodriguez said the roadway designation “doesn’t require universal agreement” with his statements, and there’s precedent for renaming roads after controversial figures.
“Florida has a long history of honoring individuals for their civic engagement, military service or public influence, even when opinions about them vary, and the Legislature routinely approves honorary roadway designations recognizing figures whose impact is undeniable,” she said. “I believe, and I think many people believe, that his was, regardless of political disagreement.”
Arrington and Democratic Sens. Tracie Davis of Tampa and Shevrin Jones of Miami Gardens voted against SB 174, which passed 6-3 and will next go to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development, its penultimate stop in the chamber.
A House version of the measure (HB 33) by Miami Republican Rep. Juan Porras awaits a hearing before the first of two committees to which it was referred.
