Erika Kirk Worries Women Are “Relying on the Government” For Support Instead Of Their Husbands

Erika Kirk, chief executive of Turning Point USA and widow of conservative talking head Charlie Kirk, closed out a day of discussion at the 2025 DealBook Summit for a talk with DealBook editor-at-large Andrew Ross Sorkin.

During the conversation, Kirk was asked her thoughts about Democrat Zohran Mamdani winning the New York City mayoral race last month.

Mamdani made history with his win over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, becoming the first Muslim and democratic socialist leader of New York City.

Sorkin pointed out that Mamdani was actually "able to persuade the younger voter," but on the "complete opposite end, if you will, of where someone like Charlie would have been."

She reflected on her time living in Manhattan and said, "I loved this city," before sharing her thoughts from a female voter perspective, pointing out that "a high percentage of [Mamdani's] voters were female."

Kirk said that she believes there's a “tendency, especially when you live in a city like Manhattan, where you are so career-driven, and you almost look to the government as a form of replacement for certain things, relationship-wise, even, so you see things a little bit differently.”

Taking a short pause, Kirk shared that she hopes young women in the city don't “look to the government as a solution to put off having a family or a marriage because you're relying on the government to support you instead of being united with a husband where you can support yourself and your husband can support and you can guys all combine together.”

“But I just find it so ironic and so interesting that a heavy percentage of the individuals that voted for him were female,” she continued.

So, women always need something else to “rely” on other than...their own desires, dreams, ambitions, careers, and their own damn selves?

According to a new report from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, 57% of women in New York City are working or actively looking for work, up four percentage points from 2019. This increase has occurred even as men’s participation has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Y’know, those good ole working men that Erika Kirk says are “supporting” women?

At 2.15 million people, women actually make up roughly half of the city’s total workforce, the largest number in its history. New York City also stands out as a national leader in female entrepreneurship. As of 2025, the city has the highest global share of venture-backed companies with at least one female founder, at 18 percent.

Plus, between July 2024 and June 2025, female-founded companies raised $955 million across 143 deals, higher than $938 million and 135 deals from female-founded companies in the Bay Area.

Long story short, New York City women are doing just fine, and sure, maybe they voted for Zohran Mamdani because of his affordability platform (who doesn’t love affordability?!,) but maybe they also voted for him because of his stances on things like no-cost childcare, taxing the 1%, climate change, LGBTQIA+ protections, and healthcare. Of course, Kirk wouldn’t consider women having more complex thoughts than “Wow, I must find a man to support me!”