The Chair of the Monroe County Republican Committee is headed to Milwaukee this week for the National GOP convention, since he is also a delegate. And Patrick Reilly said that the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday will likely help rally the rank-and-file Republicans at the convention behind him.
Reilly said his initial reaction after seeing video of the attack that injured the former president, killed a bystander and critically injured 2 others, was shock and some anger.
But as Reilly reflected further on what happened, he talked to WXXI News about the need to dial down some of the rhetoric that’s going on in politics in recent months.
“It's incumbent on folks in leadership positions on both sides to make sure that's the message,” said Reilly. “So that weighs heavy on my mind as chairman of the Monroe County party. Again, watching what I saw, you know, my initial reaction was anger, but we need to quickly move past that and do what's best for the country.”
Reilly is one of three GOP delegates from the county taking part in this week’s national Republican convention.
Similar sentiments were expressed by a number of Democratic lawmakers and political leaders locally and around the state.
Monroe County Democratic Chair Stephen DeVay condemned the violence and said on social media that, “while we disagree politically, violence has no place in our political discourse."
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said he is “horrified”‘ by what happened in Pennsylvania and said that political violence has no place in this country.
County Executive Adam Bello, another Democrat, said that the shooting at a political rally is a “tragedy for our country and for our democracy,” and Bello said his thoughts are with the former president and his family and to the family of the individual who was killed.
