Dems, GOP honor injured lawmaker in ball game
Dems, GOP honor shot lawmaker in charity ball game
Parties pay tribute to Rep. Steve Scalise a day after gunman fires at congressional Republicans.
WASHINGTON — They played baseball Thursday night at Nationals Park. And for all the contentiousness dividing Congress, this game meant something.
A day after an Illinois gunman sprayed rifle fire at congressional Republicans practicing on a diamond in Alexandria, Va., the political rancor that once divided lawmakers gave way to bipartisanship at the charity game.
Republicans and Democrats paid tribute to Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip who was critically wounded Wednesday. Scalise, R-La., was fielding balls at second base in Alexandria when he was hit in the hip.
Some of the players wore Louisiana State University gear in honor of Scalise, a graduate of the school.
“Tonight we will go to the game, play our hardest, but we will all be Team Scalise,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
The game dates to 1909 and is a summertime tradition on Capitol Hill.
“Baseball is the American game, to be able to play it, and that’s why we have to play this game tonight,” said Rep. Roger Williams, R Texas, who injured an ankle in the chaos Wednesday and planned to watch from the third-base coaching box.
Once a relatively cozy affair, played at a minor league ballpark in Maryland, the game has gone big-time in recent years and has been played at Nationals Park, just a few blocks from the Capitol.
Not counting Thursday night’s late game, Republicans and Democrats each had won 39 games with one tie.
But for Democrats and Republicans, itwasn’t about the score. Itwas about unity — and healing.
Meanwhile, investigators were working to piece together details of the journey of James Hodgkinson, trying to figure how his politically fueled rage led him from his small Illinois hometown to a shootout with police at a ball field in Alexandria.
Hodgkinson, 66, a former contractor and home inspector with a record of domestic violence, died in a shootout with police just minutes after opening fire with an assault-style rifle Wednesday. Two people, including Rep. Scalise, were critically wounded.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said Scalise, who reportedly had a third surgery Thursday, was facing a tough recovery. On Wednesday, MedStar Washington Hospital Center said the bullet entered his left hip and traveled across his pelvis, damaging bones and internal organs. Scalise received multiple blood transfusions, the hospital said.
“It’s been much more difficult than people even thought at the time,” Trump said. “He’s in some trouble, but he’s a great fighter, and he’s going to be OK, we hope.”
Matt Mika, a former congressional staff member who now works as a lobbyist, was shot in the chest. He was reported to be improving, but listed in serious condition at George Washington University Hospital. Two other shooting victims, including a Capitol Police officer, received relatively minor injuries.
As investigators combed through the Alexandria neighborhood and Belleville, Ill., on Thursday, Hodgkinson’s wife, Sue, emerged briefly to speak to reporters, accompanied by a sheriff’s deputy.
“I had no idea he was going to do this,” she told the local Fox News affiliate. “I can’t wrap my head around it.”
One unanswered question for investigators was how long Hodgkinson had been targeting the ball field and practice sessions.
The FBI said Hodgkinson had a 7.62-mm caliber rifle and a 9 mm handgun, both apparently bought legally from licensed dealers. The FBI said investigators are going through a cellphone, camera and laptop found in his white van, which was parked at a YMCA across the street.
Hodgkinson, whose Facebook page was filled with angry rants about Trump and other Republicans, arrived in the Alexandria area in March, the FBI said, and on April 4 joined a YMCA across the street from Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in the Del Ray neighborhood, long used by the Republican congressional baseball team as a practice field to prepare for the annual charity game against Democrats.
In Alexandria, residents were still reeling from the shootout at the ball field.
Hundreds of residents walked down the main street of the neighborhood Wednesday night, ending with a church prayer vigil.
“As many people have said to me, if can happen here it can happen anywhere, in the blink of an eye,” Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg said. “Why can’t a bunch of folks throw a ball on a ball field on a beautiful summer morning without thinking twice about it?
The starting pitcher for the Democrats, Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, is a longtime political rival of Scalise. “I’ve been knowing Steve for a long time, and I know that he’s very persistent and strong,” Richmond said.
“He’s strong. And I would expect him to use all that strength and courage to get through this.”
Staff writers Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington, and the Chicago Tribune’s Katherine Skiba contributed from Washington, Christy Gutowski from Belleville, Ill., and David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen from Chicago. The Associated Press also contributed.