A central Florida county commission meeting went off the rails over a vote to honor slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk by renaming a local highway after him to honor his legacy.
On Tuesday, the Lake County Commission was set to take the vote to rename Field Road as Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway after the beloved conservative activist who was assassinated by a left-wing shooter during an event at Utah Valley University earlier this month, but it would soon turn into a political ruckus.
As is now standard practice, leftist agitators show up at official meetings and Republican town hall events to sabotage, disrupt, and get attention on social media, and during the meeting, things got heated as some residents clashed with commissioners, resulting in a number of attendees being removed from the room.
(Video Credit: WESH 2 News)
At one point, a man protested the proposed renaming, instead suggesting that the road be named after Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bradley Link, who was killed in the line of duty last year. “Wouldn’t it be more suitable to honor someone who fought to serve and protect us, a true Lake County resident and brave American hero?”
“In these dark dystopian times, let’s remember Deputy Link,” he said, urging that the commission look to “unite and not divide us, and that includes you, Mr. Sabatini,” referring to County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who introduced the proposal to memorialize Kirk.
“How dare you use that deputy’s name for your petty, bullsh*t political argument? How dare you? How dare you?” Sabatini angrily fired back. “Disgusting. You’re a disgusting person.”
The exchange set the tone for the contentious meeting that lasted for hours, featuring “contentious debate, jeers, middle fingers being raised toward commissioners and the removal of three public speakers by deputies,” WESH reported.
“To have a sitting county commissioner, Anthony Sabatini, talk to the audience that way, talk to the voters that way, was absolutely appalling,” whined resident Mae Hazelton.
“The county commissioners let us down because they immediately, we were coming to give our voices so they could hear us, and they immediately attacked us, saying that we were calling them racists and bigots,” she told the outlet.
“Charlie literally was just assassinated two weeks ago, and here you have political agitators coming out against him,” Sabatini later told reporters. “Really, almost days after he was buried. I thought it was very disturbing.”
Despite the ugliness from anti-Kirk attendees, the resolution was unanimously passed.
HUGE NEWS—My Resolution to name a road in honor of the great Charlie Kirk just PASSED 5-0! Lake County is now the 1st local government in the nation to name a road after the great @charliekirk11
Thank you to my colleagues on the Lake County Commission & to Floridians across… pic.twitter.com/qHSHnwPeH8
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) September 23, 2025
“HUGE NEWS—My Resolution to name a road in honor of the great Charlie Kirk just PASSED 5-0! Lake County is now the 1st local government in the nation to name a road after the great
@charliekirk11,” Sabatini said in a post to X. “Thank you to my colleagues on the Lake County Commission & to Floridians across the state who supported this proposal!”
“Hoping more counties & cities across the country follow our lead! FOR CHARLIE,” the Republican commissioner added.
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