Politicians who have experienced violence directly react to Charlie Kirk
shooting
[September 11, 2025]
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an
event in Utah had particular resonance for public figures who have
experienced political violence themselves.
Kirk, who served as chief executive and cofounder of the youth
organization Turning Point USA, made frequent appearances on college
campuses and in other settings, engaging in political dialogue with
students in public settings.
Several leaders who have survived public attacks or had family members
victimized joined in bipartisan condemnation of the attack on Kirk.
Nancy Pelosi
The former House speaker's husband was seriously injured at their
California home in 2022 by a man wielding a hammer, who authorities said
was a believer in conspiracy theories.
Pelosi, a Democrat, posted that “the horrific shooting today at Utah
Valley University is reprehensible. Political violence has absolutely no
place in our nation.”
Donald Trump
The president sustained a minor ear injury when he was shot at a
campaign event last year. He was also the target of a failed
assassination attempt while playing golf in Florida. He had a close
relationship with Kirk and announced his passing Wednesday on his Truth
Social site.
Trump described Kirk on Truth Social as a “great guy from top to bottom.
GOD BLESS HIM!”
He also posted, “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the
United States of America better than Charlie."
Gabrielle Giffords
The former U.S. representative, a Democrat, suffered a serious brain
injury from a 2011 shooting while meeting with constituents at a
shopping center in her Arizona congressional district. She survived and
has taken up the cause of fighting gun violence.
Giffords posted on social media that she was “horrified” to hear of
Kirk’s shooting.
“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements," she
wrote, "but we must never allow America to become a country that
confronts those disagreements with violence."
Steve Scalise
The House majority leader, a Louisiana Republican, was shot at practice
for a charity baseball game involving members of Congress in the
Virginia suburbs in 2017. The man who attacked Scalise had grievances
against Trump and Republicans and was later fatally shot by police.
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Police work on the campus after Charlie Kirk was shot during Turning
Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday,
Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum
Scalise asked people on the social media platform X to “please join
me in praying for Charlie Kirk after this senseless act.”
Josh Shapiro
The Pennsylvania governor, a Democrat and potential national
candidate, was evacuated with his family from the governor's mansion
earlier this year after a man broke into the building and set a fire
that caused significant damage.
“We must speak with moral clarity," Shapiro wrote on X. "The attack
on Charlie Kirk is horrifying and this growing type of
unconscionable violence cannot be allowed in our society.”
Gretchen Whitmer
The Michigan governor, a Democrat, was the subject of a failed
kidnapping plot by right-wing extremists who hoped to ignite a civil
war. Two men were imprisoned for their 2020 attempt to kidnap the
governor during her first term.
“We should all come together to stand up against any and all forms
of political violence," Whitmer wrote on social media.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Health and Human Services secretary appeared to invoke his
family’s losses as he reacted to Kirk’s killing. Kennedy’s father,
for whom he was named, was assassinated in 1968 as he sought the
Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy Sr. was an outspoken
critic of the Vietnam War and an advocate for civil rights
legislation as attorney general during his brother’s presidency and
after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
“Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of
an era,” Kennedy wrote on social media. He called Kirk a “relentless
and courageous crusader for free speech.”
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