The manhunt for the suspect accused of killing a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and shooting another in a rampage is over, but America’s growing issues with political polarization becoming acts of targeted violence remains a pressing issue

America has a long history of political violence with multiple presidential assassinations, fights amongst members of Congress and killings of influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert F. Kennedy. But researchers and academics who study extremism and political violence have also observed a rise in domestic violence, threats and targeted acts of violence.

Political violence is becoming a more regular issue for the nation’s leaders and society to deal with. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been targeted just over the last few months in addition to incidents targeting protesters of certain political causes and an influx in antisemitic violence in the wake of the war in Gaza.

“It’s awful to say, but if anything, it’s surprising that we haven’t had more political violence,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow on the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “We’ve been sitting in this cauldron, and it’s just been slowly boiling more and more and more and so it’s only a matter of time before something leaks over — it’s a question of when, not if.”

Congress is moving forward to increase security for its members after the Minnesota attacks. The call for enhanced security protocols are coming from both Democrats and Republicans. The Senate is holding a classified briefing for all members on Tuesday to discuss security concerns and the risk of similar political violence.

The U.S. has seen a string of incidents over the last three months involving politics prior to the killings in Minnesota. A man set fire to the residence of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while he and his family were inside, two employees at the Israeli embassy were shot and killed in the nation’s capital and protesters calling for the freeing of Israeli hostages had Molotov cocktails thrown at them.

It is part of a growing trend of political violence and threats targeting lawmakers and the nation’s leaders.

President Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts last year — one when a bullet grazed his ear during a rally in Pennsylvania and another two weeks later when Secret Service was able to stop a man lying in wait in the bushes of his Florida golf club. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s was beaten with a hammer and nearly killed in 2022. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the victim of an attempted kidnapping plot in 2020.

Former Democratic Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hartman and her husband Mark, along with state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, are the latest victims in a mounting list.

“We all recognize that in the last 10-15 years, we see acceleration of political polarization, which means that people from both political camps are more inclusive, increasingly tend to demonize, to reject, to express animosity towards people from the other side of the political spectrum,” said Arie Perliger, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “The overall result is that political rivals are perceived as existential threats to our way of life, to our culture, and because of that, there’s more legitimacy.

“There’s more willing to accept violence or a hatred towards political rivals, and that leads people who are more extremists to eventually also engage in actual acts of violence.”

Political polarization has been a longstanding issue for politicians and American voters at large for years with fewer lawmakers seeking to work across the aisle and a shrinking chunk of voters willing to say a leader from an opposing party is doing a good job. Voters in both parties who support presidents of differing partisanship have shrunk.

The contrast also plays out in rhetoric coming from lawmakers and other political leaders that frequently paint opponents as threats to ways of life or the country. That trend was frequently apparent over the last two presidential elections, where both parties painted the other as threats to democracy and the American way of life.

An overwhelming share of Americans still say they do not support political violence, but polling data has also captured an increasing number of people who view the opposite party as threats.

Experts also point at least partially to the rise in social media in fueling the partisan divide. Algorithms put users into echo chambers that feed preexisting narratives, connect people to more extreme content and amplify the loudest voices. Misinformation quickly spreads online, particularly in times of crisis, that gets through to more people than statements from police or calls to cool temperatures.

“Social media is not a place where you can engage in nuanced, deep thoughts about political issues, so our political discourse is basically being reduced to sound bites,” Perliger said.

There have also been plenty of instances where perpetrators of violent attacks don’t have clearly aligned or coherent ideologies that fit into traditional red vs. blue arguments. Multiple suspects have gotten drawn into conspiracy theories online over a wide range of causes.

Another key issue at the center of America’s rising troubles with political violence is the frequency at which the attacks are perpetrated by people who otherwise appear to be everyday citizens. Researchers and the intelligence community have been sounding alarms for years about a bubbling issue with the risk of domestic terrorism but have also had issues rooting the problems out of society.

“There’s a reason why it’s hard to counter domestic extremism: the call’s coming from inside the house. It’s not this tiny minority ‘other’ that we can label as the big, bad, scary terrorists from overseas who hate us because they hate our democracy and freedom and apple pie and baseball and the Statue of Liberty. They’re our neighbors,” Lewis said.

Have a news tip? Contact Austin Denean at atdenean@sbgtv.com or at x.com/austindenean.