Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a bill to create a specialty license plate honoring slain MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. Republican legislators are unlikely to override her veto, as they only have six- and four-seat majorities in the House and Senate, respectively.

The bill would have donated $17 of the license plate’s $25 price to Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Kirk’s organization for young conservatives, which pushes anti-trans, anti-immigrant stances and encourages students to harass and report left-wing college professors.

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In her March 6 veto letter, Hobbs wrote that the bill (S.B. 1439) fell short of “working toward solutions that bring people together … by inserting politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”

Democratic legislators in Arizona said the bill would needlessly provide government assistance to help fund a wealthy organization. TPUSA raised $84 million in 2024 and its political action committee Turning Point Action (which supports far-right Republican candidates and registers conservative voters) raised over $27 million that same year, according to the Arizona Mirror.

“To me, to use a government program to financially benefit one political organization sets just a troubling precedent, and it risks blurring the lines between state neutrality and political advocacy,” said Sen. Lauren Kuby (D).

Rep. Patty Contreras (D) noted that state Republicans have blocked Democratic legislators for years from creating an LGBTQ+ Pride specialty plate that would provide donations to local queer rights organizations.

Sen. Jake Hoffman (R), founder of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, introduced the bill. He is the president and CEO of Rally Forge and 1Ten, two consulting and marketing firms that have received over $2.6 million from TPUSA and Turning Point Action since 2017.

The Arizona Mirror noted that Kirk personally advocated against well-funded private organizations taking money from the government, calling it corrupt, antithetical to free markets, and a way of forcing taxpayers to fund political causes with which they might personally disagree.

“TPUSA is at the forefront of the movement to promote Christian nationalism,” wrote the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate watchdog group. “Turning Point USA’s primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists.”

Kirk argued that the legalization of same-sex marriage destroyed gender roles, opening the door for transgender activism. He accused LGBTQ+ people of threatening to destroy Christians who don’t celebrate and participate in their movement. He accused Target of “grooming” kids with its Pride merchandise, but his group also defended Shawn Bergstrand, a registered child sex offender whose Christian fashion company, Rightside Up Apparel, sponsored a TPUSA event.