- The Pennsylvania governor and his family were targeted by an arsonist on Sunday.
- There have been several high profile assassination attempts in the last few years.
- Gov. Cox called on Utahns to carefully consider what they post online.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called on Utahns to consider how their internet interactions might contribute to an environment of political violence following an arson attack against Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro over the weekend.
Cox has made political depolarization initiatives a centerpiece of his tenure as governor. On Thursday, Cox said during a televised monthly press conference that while politics is a “serious business” it is incumbent upon everyone to keep their debates civil.
“I’m not saying you should take it less seriously, but I am saying — pleading, I guess, more than anything else — to just think twice about what you post on social media," Cox said. “Just because it feels good doesn’t mean we should do it. Try to state your cause without tearing other people down, and certainly without any intimidation or threats of violence.”
Shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, Shapiro and his family were rushed out of the governor’s official residence in Harrisburg after a man scaled the fence surrounding the property, broke windows on both sides of the mansion and threw Molotov cocktails inside.
Before firefighters arrived the fires caused significant damage to multiple rooms in the residence, destroying furniture and blackening walls. But no one was injured in the attack.
Police reports revealed that the suspect admitted “harboring hatred toward” Shapiro and called 911 after the attack to say he was motivated by the belief that Shapiro’s position on the war in Gaza had not prevented the deaths of Palestinians.
Shapiro, who is Jewish, had been celebrating the first night of Passover with his family before the attack. Hours later, he stood outside his home, to condemn political extremism on all sides.
“We have to be better than this,” Shapiro said. “This kind of violence has no place in our society regardless of what motivates it.”
On Thursday, Cox called Shapiro and his wife “very good friends of ours.”
Shapiro’s wife, Lori, first lady Abby Cox and second lady Usha Vance were the United States’ three representatives at the Italy Special Olympics in March.
“He’s a Democrat,” Cox, a Republican, said of Shapiro. “We have lots of different views. He’s one of the best people I know.”
Cox decries increase in political violence
Toxic political rhetoric is one of the things that has led to an increase in political violence, according to Cox.
As chair of the National Governors Association from 2023 to 2024, Cox spearheaded a nationwide “Disagree Better” campaign centered around ads modeling healthy dialogue between leaders with opposing views that were shown to decrease partisan animosity.
During the first “Disagree Better” meeting in 2023, Cox said that experts told governors “to expect assassination attempts to increase significantly over the next few years.”
“And sure enough, now we’ve seen several after going a while without having any,” Cox said Thursday.
In 2024, there were two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, with one resulting in a bullet grazing Trump’s ear and the gunman killing a man at the rally.
These attempts — the highest profile since the attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life in 1981 — were preceded by the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an armed assault against the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the planned kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. And in 2017, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was seriously injured after a gunman who opposed Trump targeted Republican lawmakers practicing for a congressional baseball game.
Leading up to the 2024 election, 73% of voters said they were very worried about political violence, according to a poll commissioned by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Each week the Dartmouth College Polarization Research Lab polls support for partisan violence, with the most recent survey finding support among just 3% of Americans.
“It just takes one person in a state of 3.5 million to do something crazy and end a life or destroy a family,” Cox said.
The governor’s security team is in close contact with their counterparts in other states to reevaluate safety procedures, Cox said, but the mental harm is harder to avoid for family members.
“It’s every governor’s worst fear,” Cox said. “We’re in the arena, it is what it is, we kind of take this stuff. But for your spouse, and especially for your kids, it’s incredibly damaging.”