Daniel Hernandez, whose life has been shaped by violence directed at politicians, woke up Saturday morning to missed calls and messages from loved ones who had seen the news that two state legislators had been shot in Minnesota and immediately worried about his safety.

Hernandez, a former Democratic state lawmaker who is now running in a special election to represent Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, began his political career as an intern for former Rep. Gabby Giffords and was credited with helping to save her from a mass shooter in 2011. Last week, a bullet struck the car window of one of his campaign staffers outside his family home, which doubles as his campaign headquarters. His mother and staffers were inside, he said.

More than a year ago, Hernandez began staying with his sister, Democratic Arizona state Rep. Alma Hernandez, because he worried for her safety after she faced threats over her support for Israel.

“It’s not the first time we’ve dealt with threats — it’s been years,” said Alma Hernandez, through tears. “I don’t think people realize the trauma that this triggers. … People on both sides tend not to call out this horrible rhetoric that both sides truly tend to spread a lot.”

President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. The Secret Service thwarted another potential assassin near Trump’s golf course in Florida. And the violence in Minnesota revealed that America’s political fractures have now penetrated into the most intimate spaces of democratic life: the homes where elected officials sleep.

A gunman’s predawn rampage Saturday in Minnesota left one Democratic legislator and her husband dead and another lawmaker and his spouse wounded in what authorities called a politically motivated shooting.

The Minnesota suspect remained at large Sunday, a day after police say he posed as an officer to gain entry to the Brooklyn Park homes of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and state Sen. John Hoffman early Saturday morning.

Hortman, the former House speaker, and her husband, Mark, were killed in the attack. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

The full motives and ideology of the shooter, identified as 57-year-old Vance Boelter, remained unknown. But the attacks landed against a backdrop of surging political rhetoric and violence that has deeply penetrated American culture.

Nearly a quarter of Americans (23 percent) believe that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” according to a 2023 poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute with the Brookings Institution.

That number was 15 percent in 2021.

The polling showed that one-third of Republicans now support violence as a means of saving the country, compared with 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats. The numbers paint a portrait of a democracy where ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks extremism, identified 58 U.S.-based violent events and alleged plots in 2024 that involved 61 individuals with confirmed or assessed connections to violent extremist ideologies or online radicalization, said Katherine Keneally, ISD’s director of threat analysis and prevention, whose background is in law enforcement analysis. Politicians and government facilities were targeted in seven of those incidents, she said.

Saturday’s shootings struck at the heart of Minnesota’s Democratic establishment. Hortman, 55, had served in the state legislature for more than two decades, rising through the ranks to become state House speaker, one of the most powerful figures in state politics. An attorney by training, she had been a fierce advocate for reproductive rights and progressive causes, making her a frequent target of conservative criticism.

“This was targeted political violence,” Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference as helicopters circled in the search for the gunman. The Democratic governor’s words hung heavy over a day already fractured by competing visions of American power and purpose.

Lawmakers voiced condolences and outrage. Several had been victims or targets themselves.

Notably, Giffords, who was shot and severely wounded in 2011 at a campaign event, posted that she was “devastated.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose home was set on fire by arsonists this spring, forcing his family to flee, urged leaders to speak out. “This is unacceptable — we all have a responsibility to stand up and work to defeat the political violence that is tearing through our country,” he wrote.

Nancy Pelosi, whose husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer at their San Francisco home by a man who had planned to hold her hostage, condemned “a shocking and abhorrent manifestation of political violence in our country.”

Trump said that “such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”

The Wisconsin State Democratic Party said it was taking extra security measures for its annual convention in the Wisconsin Dells. Minnesota canceled all political rallies until the suspected shooter was apprehended. Late Saturday, one person was taken into custody in connection with threats made against Texas lawmakers who planned to attend a protest at the Texas Capitol in Austin.

Political violence is hardly new or confined to one party. In 2017, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) was shot during a Republican baseball practice in Virginia by an attacker motivated by anger toward Trump and other GOP lawmakers. In 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) was the target of a kidnapping plot by anti-government extremists.

The January 2021 attack on the Capitol saw a mob of Trump supporters threaten lawmakers gathered to certify the 2020 election.

Last year, Trump survived the two assassination attempts.

And so far this year, politically motivated vandals have attacked Elon Musk’s Tesla properties and the New Mexico Republican Party’s headquarters.

For those who have been victims of attempted violence, Saturday’s killings were particularly traumatizing.

Authorities are investigating the incident in front of Hernandez’s house. The Tucson police department said that the investigation is open and ongoing, and is for “crime damage,” which refers to the intentional or reckless act of damaging, defacing, or interfering with another person’s property.

On Saturday, Hernandez and his sister woke up late, and had missed “so many calls I started freaking out,” said Alma Hernandez, through tears. She worried that something had happened to her mother. “No one should have to feel that way, and no one’s family should have to worry about that,” she added.

“It really makes people think twice, like, is this really what I want to do? Is it worth everything? … I hate the feeling of not feeling safe in my own home.”

Daniel Hernandez said today’s political environment is disheartening and dangerous: “How are we expected to just go back to normal and go back home?”