6 times conservatives were killed, shot or beaten by radical leftists over their beliefs

1. Steve Scalise

On June 14, 2017, as Republican members of Congress practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game between Republican and Democratic lawmakers that raises money for charity, left-wing activist James Hodgkinson opened fire on the lawmakers.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who was serving as House Majority Whip at the time, was injured in the attack and nearly died. Capitol Police officers David Bailey and Crystal Griner were also injured in the shooting. 

Hodgkinson, who had volunteered for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had made his disdain for Republicans clear in social media posts and letters to the editor he submitted to his local newspaper ahead of the shooting. In 2015, two years before the shooting, Hodgkinson shared a political cartoon depicting Scalise speaking to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Hodgkinson commented on the cartoon by declaring, “Here’s a Republican that should [lose] His job, but they Gave Him a Raise.” 

In an interview with The Washington Post following the attack, one of Hodgkinson’s former neighbors reported that he heard gunshots coming from his yard in the weeks leading up to the shooting, which prompted him to ask him to stop. The neighbor retroactively referred to the gunshots as “target practice.”