MOMENTS AFTER TOUCHING down in Wisconsin on Saturday for the Republican National Convention, Silicon Valley’s top GOP leader learned that a shooter attempted to gun down former President Donald Trump.
“Everybody was really concerned. It was a pretty shocking and historic day,” Shane Patrick Connolly, chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Party, told San José Spotlight. He said he had just stepped off the plane — his phone hadn’t even caught up to new texts yet — when someone next to him announced that for the first time in 43 years, a former U.S. president was wounded in a failed assassination.
But on Monday — as Connolly filed through the gates of the four-day Republican event in Milwaukee, where he’ll cast a nomination vote along with 2,400 delegates — he noticed an apprehensive atmosphere giving way to a sense of unity.
“It really rallied the people here. It’s a happy bunch — a lot of cheerful Republicans here in Milwaukee,” Connolly said. “The host city has been extremely gracious. Milwaukee has a democratic mayor, but he came and spoke to our welcome event and it was very unifying.”
On Saturday, a man the FBI has identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed a nearby building and aimed his rifle at the stage of Trump’s Pennsylvania rally from less than 200 feet away. He fired numerous shots that killed one person in the crowd, left two others critically injured and pierced part of Trump’s right ear, according to the Associated Press.
That didn’t deter Republican delegates at the convention from celebrating Trump’s pick for vice president: Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
“JD Vance is a great pick for VP — he’s a combat veteran who saw the horrors of battle and who therefore values peace and stability, he’ll be a champion of hardworking Americans and he’s a great example of someone who has lived the American dream,” Connolly told San José Spotlight.
Campaigns take a breather
While the GOP carries on with the convention, the shooting in Pennsylvania prompted local Democrats to hit pause on campaign activities in Silicon Valley this past weekend.
“We canceled some events like the phone bank and other activities in our headquarters yesterday,” Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chairman Bill James told San José Spotlight. “We don’t have an immediate update on activities resuming today but we expect to in the coming weekend.”
James describes an “underlying layer of sadness” among local Democrats.
“We know this attempt on Trump’s life reflects a political time when some people unfortunately feel that political violence is justified or necessary,” James told San José Spotlight. “We’re likely to see Americans have a bump in support for Trump expressed in polls. He was injured and, I can imagine, traumatized by the experience, so it’s natural for people to have empathetic responses to that.”
Connolly called Saturday’s shooting a cautionary roadmap for political vitriol.
“I hope we’ll all learn something about what’s happened and that reactions to the events will lead to positive change in the dynamics of the campaign.” Bill James, Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chairman
“It moves us to tone down the rhetoric — these are political opponents, they’re not our enemies and we’re not enemies of the state. We’re just people running for office,” Connolly said. “I’m confident that the fairly universal messages of unity from Republicans and Democrats and messages of turning down overheated rhetoric for a time might actually make things better and safer.”
On that point James agrees.
“Everyone deserves to be free from the risk of being harmed due to their politics and position,” James told San José Spotlight. “I hope we’ll all learn something about what’s happened and that reactions to the events will lead to positive change in the dynamics of the campaign.”
Both agree the risk of a copycat — and further threat to Trump’s life — is fairly low with heightened security awareness. And with political activities now on pause for Silicon Valley Democrats, James said party leaders will focus on how to steer clear of bitterness while conveying their policy stances to voters. He noted everything that’s happened since the presidential debate on June 27 hasn’t changed the basics of the race.
“We do have differing visions for the country — and it will come down to tens of thousand votes in a couple of key states and we’ll try to win those votes in a positive and appropriate way,” James said.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.