Gov Glenn Youngkin of Virginia has expressed remorse for insensitive comments he made regarding the attack on Paul Pelosi in Virginia last Friday.
“At the end of the day, I really wanted to express the fact that what happened to Speaker Pelosi’s husband was atrocious,” Mr Youngkin told Punchbowl News. “And I didn’t do a great job.”
Appearing at a campaign event with US House candidate Yesli Vega, Mr Youngkin used the assault that landed Mr Pelosi in hospital undergoing skull surgery as the set-up to a political punchline.
“Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s husband had a break-in last night in their house, and he was assaulted,” Mr Youngkin told the crowd. “There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re going to go do.”
Mr Youngkin, whose victory in Virginia last November marked a high point for the Republican Party less than a year into President Joe Biden’s first term, has been travelling the country stumping for Republican gubernatorial candidates in recent weeks.
The Virginia governor has appeared with candidates in Oregon, South Dakota, and Arizona, attempting to rally Republican voters with a majority of the country’s governor positions up for grabs on November 8.
Mr Youngkin was not the only prominent Republican to make light of the assault on Mr Pelosi. Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, used an unrelated question to mock Ms Pelosi for the break-in and assault.
“It is not impossible to protect our kids at school.,” she responded. “They act like it is. Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in DC — apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.”
Ms Lake has declined to apologise for or walk back her comments, which come as the American political landscape has become increasingly violent and dangerous for high-profile elected officials. Much of that violence, though not all of it, has come from far right actors whose political leaders have been accused of inciting violence themselves.
Other Republicans have spread baseless conspiracy theories about the attack. The alleged attacker shouted that he was looking for Ms Pelosi and was waiting for her to return home on the night of the attack when he was arrested by police. Ms Pelosi was not in San Francisco on the night of the attack, but has since returned to be with her husband and family in its aftermath.
Mr Pelosi is still recovering from skull and arm surgery in the hospital. Earlier this week, Ms Pelosi said that he is “making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.”
