Kansas Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Democrat from Lenexa, was shocked when she heard about the political assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House.
“You're thinking about their family and the loss,” Sykes told KCUR's Up To Date. “And then, it hits home that this could be you.”
Hortman and her husband were shot and killed at their home early Saturday morning. A Democratic state senator and his wife were also shot and injured by the same suspect.
Missouri U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver II said his name was on a "hit list" linked to the suspect, who was arrested and charged Sunday night after a manhunt.
“I'll tell you, Saturday afternoon, when my doorbell rang, there was no way in hell that I was answering the door,” said Sykes.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a policy think tank, published a report last year saying nearly half of the state lawmakers it surveyed had experienced threats or attacks in recent years.
Sykes attributes the spike in political violence to the divisiveness and partisanship she sees coming out of D.C.
“We do go after the person instead of the policy," she said. "We spend less time sitting down with people who disagree with us."
Sykes believes that environment can push people who don’t feel heard to take extreme actions.
“But that doesn't mean you go and shoot someone because you don't like the policies that they're pushing,” she said.
Sykes said she would like to make it so lawmakers’ home addresses are no longer public information, and seeks more safety training for elected officials.
- Dinah Sykes, Kansas Senate minority leader
