TOLEDO, Ohio — Following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, Lucas County officials in are weighing in.
Toledo City Council president Carrie Hartman representing the Democrats, and Chairman of Political Development for the Lucas County Republican Party Paul Komisarek offered their thoughts from a local level.
Both say there is no place for violence, especially in politics.
For the first time in nearly 20 years a former president experienced a dangerous attempt on their life. In 2005, former President President George W. Bush survived an attempt on his life when a grenade was thrown near the podium where he was giving a speech.
Local leaders from both the Lucas County Democratic Party and Lucas County Republican Party say both parties need to find a way to come together without turning to violence.
"Violence like that is never acceptable and it's something that would certainly be terrifying at a rally like that and so my heart really goes out to everyone who was injured," said Councilwoman Hartman, who is also the Executive Director, Lucas County Democratic Party.
Komisarek says growing animosity between the parties helped lead to Saturday's events.
"Political rhetoric is the cause of this building up against President Trump to this matter that should never happen anywhere to anybody," said Komisarek.
Both say they are hopeful for a compassion-driven political season.
"I'm hopeful going forward that we can have civil conversations with each other. We can talk more about our values instead of the personalities of the candidates," said Hartman.
Komisarek agreed that the political animosity between parties has gone too far.
"It's an unfortunate state that this came to that point right here," said Komisarek. "But you can truly see that both sides, both political parties need to tone down their rhetoric and work together because this is an election."
Both reiterated the fact that this election should not be decided by emotional rhetoric in which people retreat to their own side, and stop listening to the concerns and positions of their fellow citizens.
"So if we all can start talking about our day to day issues, what really matters, hopefully we can kind of tone down this rhetoric," said Hartman.
"Let this take place in the ballot box. Let the American people decide who should be president of the United States," said Komisarek.
The Republican National Convention starts on Monday.
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