In the wake of an attack that left Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the hospital, and reports of gun-toting poll watchers, President Joe Biden warned Americans Wednesday about potential election violence ahead of the midterms.
“We must, with an overwhelming voice, stand against political violence and voter intimidation,” said Biden. “Period. Stand up and speak against it.”
In San Francisco, Paul Pelosi’s attacker, 42-year-old David DePape, shouted the same “Where’s Nancy” chant from the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He allegedly came at the 82-year-old with a hammer and fractured his skull.
“As he told the police, he had come looking for Nancy Pelosi to take her hostage, to interrogate her, to threaten to break her kneecaps,” said Biden.
The president connected this attack with the Capitol riots and election denial claims that are popular with a faction of the Republican party, especially fans of former President Donald Trump.
“In Georgia, for example, the Republican secretary of state and his family were subjected to death threats because he refused to break the law and give in to the defeated President’s demand: just find him 11,780 votes,” said Biden of the 2020 election aftermath.
He added that “election workers, like Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, were harassed and threatened just because they had the courage to do their job and stand up for truth, to stand up for our democracy.”
Biden isn’t the only person concerned about violence during the midterm elections.
“I continue to worry about the threats against the lives of these public servants that are working day in and day out across the country,” election administration expert Amber McReynolds told Audacy’s “The Homestretch” podcast last month. “Given the rhetoric from some of the candidates in Nevada and Arizona… I think Nevada and Arizona are probably the top concerns,” she said.
Thankfully, a vast majority of Americans surveyed this August by Ipsos (85%) said they don’t believe it is acceptable for a member of their political party to threaten and/or intimidate others to achieve a political goal.
Biden noted Wednesday that while Trump has made support of unfounded election claims an “article of faith in the MAGA Republican Party,” he said that faction is “the minority of that party.”
Even so, the president said that others should not be silent.
“There is an alarming rise in the number of our people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining silent because silence is complicity,” said Biden. “The disturbing rise in voter intimidation.
The pernicious tendency to excuse political violence or at least — at least trying to explain it away.”
According to the most recent Marist College polls, Republicans have an edge against the Democrats in the battle for congressional control as of Tuesday. Apart from inflation (36%), those surveyed cited preserving democracy (26%) as the top issue. Republicans (54%) were more inclined to consider inflation the top concern, while most Democrats (42%) said preserving democracy was their top issue.
“In this moment, we have to confront those lies with the truth,” said Biden. “The very future of our nation depends on it.”
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