Lawmakers from both parties struck a rare note of unity Wednesday following news that conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 31, had died from a gunshot wound. Messages that initially offered prayers for Kirk’s recovery quickly shifted to condolences for his family, accompanied by broad bipartisan
denunciations of political violence. “It’s devastating news,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. “The idea that political violence has taken one of the strongest voices on the conservative side is a great heartbreak. Charlie was a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed, and we need every political leader to decry the violence and to do it loudly. The problem is in the human heart,
and it’s gotten out of hand.” “This is beyond terrible,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said. “Charlie Kirk was a husband, father, and son. Violence is never the answer. Sydney and I are keeping the Kirk family
in our prayers.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., addressed Kirk’s death on the Senate floor and said that “political violence, which this attack seems to be, has no place in this country — none.” “I’m deeply disturbed about the threat of violence that has entered our political life, and I pray that we will remember that every person, no matter how vehement our disagreement with them, is a human being and a fellow American deserving of respect and protection,” he said. President Donald
