After former President Donald Trump was injured in a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, prominent women who have been the targets of political violence swiftly condemned the attack. 

Trump posted on his social media site that he was hit in the ear by a bullet. Secret Service released a statement saying that the gunman was dead and that one attendee was killed and two others were critically injured. The shooting is reportedly being investigated as an assassination attempt. 

“Political violence is terrifying. I know,” said former U.S.  Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat, who suffered a severe brain injury after being shot in an act of political violence in January 2011 during an event with constituents in Tucson, Arizona. “I’m holding former President Trump, and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence in my heart. Political violence is un-American and is never acceptable—never.” 

Giffords’ injuries led to her resignation from Congress and the beginning of her work in gun safety policy research and advocacy. 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighed in Saturday, leaning on her family’s experience with political violence. Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was brutally attacked inside the couple’s home in October 2022 by an assailant who was looking to harm the former Democratic speaker, driven by right-wing conspiracy theories.

“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society. I thank God that former President Trump is safe,” Pelosi said in a statement. 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of a foiled kidnapping and murder plot in 2020, also released a statement: “There is no place for political violence in this country, period. This is not how we solve our differences.

“I am horrified to learn of this news, and we will be following the situation closely. I am grateful for those in law enforcement who stepped in immediately.”

It wasn’t just Democratic women who responded to the news condemning political violence. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was shot during a practice ahead of the annual Congressional Baseball Game in 2017. Scalise issued an initial statement following the early reports of the shooting, saying, “Praying for President Donald Trump. There is never any place for political violence.”

An hour later, Scalise put out a second statement: “For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America.

“Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past.

“This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”

No information has yet been released on the shooter by law enforcement. 

The shooter was reportedly outside of where Trump was holding the rally. Attendees at Trump rallies are subject to security screenings, including walking through metal detectors and bag searches for weapons. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both also issued statements, and Biden addressed the media, saying he had been briefed by federal agencies and had tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with Trump. 

Addressing reporters in Delaware, Biden said: “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

Biden concluded by emphatically denouncing political violence, saying: “But the bottom line is that the Trump rally was a rally that should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem. But the idea that there’s political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It is just not appropriate. And we — everybody — everybody must condemn it. Everybody.”

Harris said in a statement: “Doug and I are relieved that he is not seriously injured. We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting.

“We are grateful to the United States Secret Service, first responders, and local authorities for their immediate action.”

“Violence such as this has no place in our nation. We must all condemn this abhorrent act and do our part to ensure that it does not lead to more violence.”

Harris also leads the White House’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which was established in the fall of 2023.