Virginia leaders respond to apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump

Though a would-be assassin’s bullet clipped Donald Trump’s ear during a campaign speech Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the former president was not daunted.

“Fight,” he yelled to the crowd, raising his fist as he was ushered off the stage by Secret Service agents.

Soon after, his Virginia allies expressed concern as well as a renewed commitment to championing his bid to reclaim the White House.

“President Trump’s bravery in the face of danger solidifies that he is the type of leader our country needs,” read a statement from U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach. “I remain strongly supportive of him and look forward to helping him win in November.”

Kiggans was one of several speakers at a Trump rally late last month at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, where she was joined by many notable Virginia Republicans — including Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Early in the election cycle, the Norfolk Academy graduate’s name had been bandied about as a potential GOP challenger to Trump. In Chesapeake and after Saturday’s incident, Youngkin conveyed support for the former president.

“Last night, Donald J. Trump showed us strength and courage, and showed us compassion and gratitude,” Youngkin said in a Sunday statement. “I thank God for protecting him.

“Yesterday’s attempted assassination of President Trump was an action of pure evil — an affront against our morality, an affront against our liberty, an affront against the very foundations of our great nation. If we ever deem it acceptable, then we will lose our Republic.”

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a former Virginia Beach delegate, was part of a red wave in 2021 that swept him, Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears into office. A Cuban American, he expressed outrage Saturday.

“This is not Cuba,” he wrote on X. “An attack on a U.S. presidential candidate is an attack on American democracy itself.”

Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020 and faces him in a November rematch, called for all Americans to condemn the assault, during which the shooter and a rally attendee were killed.

He was joined by state Democrats.

“I’m so distraught over the tragedy at President Trump’s rally yesterday,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine wrote on X. “I’m relieved he is safe and will pray at Mass today for his recovery and for the families who lost loved ones.”

Portsmouth’s Louise Lucas, a longtime state senator and vocal critic of Trump, also reached across the aisle.

“I am disgusted by the events that occurred at former President Trump’s rally today,” she wrote Saturday on X. “Political violence has absolutely no place in our democratic systems.”