The Virginian-pilot on how we can’t let congressional office attack dim the attraction of public service:

Only hours into her first day on the job, an intern for U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly was attacked in the congressman’s Fairfax office on Monday by a baseball bat-wielding assailant. Another staffer was injured and the alleged attacker smashed windows and computers before law enforcement arrested him.

Connolly rightly called it an “unconscionable and devastating” act of violence. Everyone should keep the injured women in their thoughts and hope for their speedy recovery, though it will likely take some time until the trauma of this awful episode subsides.

The deep divisions in American politics aren’t new, but the number of officials subjected to intimidation, threats and even violence is deeply worrisome. Our democratic institutions depend on people willing to serve, and they will suffer if a climate of hostility drives public servants away.

According to law enforcement, a man entered Connolly’s office Monday morning with a metal baseball bat asking for the congressman, who was not there. The suspect then attacked the two female staffers, striking the intern in the side and an outreach director in the head, before destroying things in the office. He was apprehended after fleeing the office.

The Washington Post reported the 49-year-old man had a history of schizophrenia dating back to his teens. His father had unsuccessfully sought treatment for his illness, though the specifics of those efforts are yet unknown.

There’s no question the United States needs to make mental health care more accessible and affordable. Growing numbers of Americans are suffering from anxiety, depression, substance abuse or something more severe, and expanding treatment options must be a priority.

However, it is a grim commentary on the state of affairs when Americans may be tempted to feel relieved that an attack on a congressional office was due to a mental health crisis rather than politically motivated violence.

That is because the country has seen far too many such acts in recent years.

In 2011, a gunman shot Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in the head while she met with constituents outside a Tucson grocery store. Eighteen people were shot, six of them fatally, though Giffords survived the attack. She resigned from office a year later as a result of the injuries she suffered.

Six years later, another gunman opened fire at an Alexandria ballfield during a practice for the annual congressional baseball game. Then-house Majority Whip Steve Scalise, now the House majority leader, was among six people wounded, including two Capitol Police officers.

In October, a man looking for then-house Speaker Nancy Pelosi forced his way into her San Francisco home and attacked her husband Paul with a hammer. Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture.

And in 2021, former President Donald Trump incited his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol, where rioters rampaged through the building looking for lawmakers and threatening to hang the vice president for not stopping certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

Time magazine reported in November that the Capitol Police recorded more than 9,600 threats against members of Congress in 2021, nearly 10 times the number reported in 2016. While most aren’t serious, more than enough are.

Democracy withers in a climate of violence and intimidation, and attacks such as these discourage talented, earnest men and women from choosing a life of public service. It should also be a warning to those in the political arena that reckless language demonizing their opponents can have dangerous, even deadly, consequences.

We hope for the swift recovery of the injured, and that this terrible event does not dim for the injured staffers — or other civic-minded citizens — the attraction and importance of public service.

The country thrives when talented people walk the halls of government doing the people’s work, and it would be a terrible shame if the ugliness and hostility that permeates our discourse discourages them from that noble calling.