Politically motivated violent acts are becoming a more common issue targeting lawmakers and causes across the spectrum.
Armed FBI agents search for an active shooter, sweeping a neighborhood adjacent to the home of Minnesota DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., Saturday, June 14, 2025. accused of killing a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and shooting another in a rampage that resulted in a dayslong search is over, but America’s growing issues with political polarization spilling over into acts of targeted violence remains a pressing issue with no clear off-ramps in sight.
America has a long history of political violence with multiple presidential assassinations, fights amongst members of Congress and killings of influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert F. Kennedy. But researchers and academics who study extremism and political violence have also observed a noted rise in domestic violence, threats and targeted acts of violence.is becoming a more regular issue for the nation’s leaders and society to deal with. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been targeted by attacks just over the last few months in addition to incidents targeting protesters of certain political causes and an influx in antisemitic violence in the wake of the war in Gaza. “It's awful to say, but if anything, it's surprising that we haven't had more political violence,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow on the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “We've been sitting in this cauldron, and it's just been slowly boiling more and more and more and so it's only a matter of time before something leaks over — it's a question of when, not if.” The U.S. has seen a string of incidents over the last three months involving politics from across the spectrum even prior to the killings in Minnesota. Ato the residence of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while he and his family were inside, two employees at the Israeli embassy were shot and killed in the nation’s capital and protesters calling for the freeing of Israeli hostages had Molotov cocktails thrown at them. It is part of a growing trend of political violence and threats targeting lawmakers and the nation’s leaders. President Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts last year — one when a bullet grazed his ear during a rally in Pennsylvania and another two weeks later when Secret Service was able to stop a man lying in wait in the bushes of his Florida golf club. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s was beaten with a hammer and nearly killed in 2022. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the Former Democratic Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hartman and her husband Mark, along with state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, are the latest victims in a mounting list. “We all recognize that in the last 10-15 years, we see acceleration of political polarization, which means that people from both political camps are more inclusive, increasingly tend to demonize, to reject, to express animosity towards people from the other side of the political spectrum,” said Arie Perliger, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “The overall result is that political rivals are perceived as existential threats to our way of life, to our culture, and because of that, there's more legitimacy. “There's more willing to accept violence or a hatred towards political rivals, and that leads people who are more extremists to eventually also engage in actual acts of violence.” Political polarization has been a longstanding issue for politicians and American voters at large for years with fewer lawmakers seeking to work across the aisle and a shrinking chunk of voters willing to say a leader from an opposing party is doing a good job. Shares of voters in both parties who support presidents of differing partisanship have shrunk. The contrast also plays out in rhetoric coming from lawmakers and other political leaders that frequently paint their opponents as threats to ways of life or the country altogether. That trend was frequently apparent over the last two presidential elections, where both parties painted the other as threats to democracy and the American way of life. An overwhelming share of Americans still say they do not support political violence, but polling data has also captured an increasing chunk of people who view the opposite party as threats. Experts also point at least partially to the rise in social media in fueling the partisan divide. Algorithms put users into echo chambers that feed preexisting narratives, connect people to more extreme content and amplify the loudest voices. Misinformation quickly spreads online, particularly in times of crisis, that gets through to more people than statements from police or calls to cool temperatures. “Social media is not a place where you can engage in nuanced, deep thoughts about political issues, so our political discourse is basically being reduced to sound bites,” Perliger said. There have also been plenty of instances where perpetrators of violent attacks don’t have clearly aligned or coherent ideologies that fit into traditional red v. blue arguments. Multiple suspects have gotten drawn into conspiracy theories online over a wide range of causes across the spectrum. Another key issue at the center of America’s rising troubles with political violence is the frequency at which the attacks are perpetrated by people who otherwise appear to be everyday citizens. Researchers and the intelligence community have been sounding alarms for years about a bubbling issue with the risk of domestic terrorism but have also had issues rooting the problems out of society for a multitude of reasons. “There's a reason why it's hard to counter domestic extremism: the call’s coming from inside the house. It’s not this tiny minority ‘other’ that we can label as the big, bad, scary terrorists from overseas who hate us because they hate our democracy and freedom and apple pie and baseball and the Statue of Liberty. They're our neighbors,” Lewis said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Minnesota lawmaker, husband killed in 'targeted' shooting; another lawmaker, wife woundedTwo Democratic lawmakers in the Minnesota state legislature were shot in 'targeted' attacks late Friday.
Read more »
Minnesota lawmaker and husband shot dead in 'politically motivated assassination,' Walz saysHayley Miller is the senior blog editor for MSNBC. Previously, she was a senior reporter on HuffPost's breaking news team. Before she was a reporter, she was a senior editor on HuffPost's blog team.
Read more »
Minnesota lawmaker, spouse, shot dead in 'politically motivated assassination': Gov. WalzDemocratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her spouse were shot dead by a suspect impersonating police officers. DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and are suspected to survive.
Read more »
Police: Minnesota state lawmaker killed, another lawmaker injured in targeted shootingsMontgomery, Alabama
Read more »
Democratic Lawmaker Killed in Apparent ‘Politically Motivated Assassination’State Rep. Melissa Hortman was killed and Sen. John Hoffman was shot in acts of “targeted political violence,” Governor Tim Walz said Saturday.
Read more »
Utah lawmaker heartbroken but not surprised by killing of Minnesota lawmakerUtah Rep. Angela Romero, leader of the Democrats in the Utah House of Representatives, said she was heartbroken but not surprised that Rep. Melissa Hortman was
Read more »