WNY political leaders and experts call for unity amid Trump rally shooting

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — After WIVB News 4 spoke with local Republican and Democratic representatives Sunday, the message from each side was the same: if you can whittle it down to one word, it would be unity.

Local leaders spoke out following an assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13 at Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We need to start being more civil with one another and having debates and talking about things," said Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner. "Families have been ripped apart by this stuff."

Zellner said the United States was founded on the premise of "a ballot not a bullet." In his 21st year of politics, no one has ever made a difference in an election by shooting someone, he said.

“We must come together as a whole and condemn this,” Zellner said.

Republican County Chairman Michael Kracker echoed that statement on Sunday.

“Nobody should have to go to a political event and worry if they're going to be able to have their loved ones come home alive,” Kracker said.

Kracker went on to say that it was a "very, very scary" day for America.

"Completely unacceptable political violence in a country that prided itself on having peaceful and free elections for hundreds of years,” he said.

Former chairs of the Erie County Republican and Democratic parties Bob Davis and Len Lenihan said what happened on Saturday was reminiscent of years past.

Lenihan was a big supporter of John F. Kennedy and brother Bobby Kennedy before they were assassinated, while Davis coordinated local rallies for Ronald Reagan after his failed assassination attempt.

“We are resorting to these attacks and these confrontations and it's just bubbling up,” Davis said.

“With four months to go before the next presidential election, we gotta find a way to protect the country and the candidates from any more violence,” Lenihan said.

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia also released a statement saying, "regardless of one's political affiliation, the atrocity that occurred is unacceptable and violence should never be tolerated anywhere in the United States."

Both parties are finding ways to balance politics with calls for unification.

“Let's calm down and let this process prevail and let's elect a president that's going to lead this country for the next four years,” Davis said.

“Maybe this is a teachable moment where we can come together, both parties, and agree that we're going to, over the next four months, we're going to stick to the issues," Lenihan said. "We're going to talk about facts, and we're not going to talk about personalities."

President Biden addressed the nation Sunday night in the Oval Office about the importance of unity. Local leaders and experts are saying the same and that now, it falls on the voters to stop the extreme polarization of views.

“This isn't the first time that we've had turmoil in our country, and we've always come out in a better place and gotten stronger,” Zellner said.

“Even when something as horrific as last night's violent action occurs, Americans still come together,” Kracker said.