Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) condemns the shooting in remarks Wednesday on the U.S. Senate floor. Credit: Screengrab

The man who allegedly shot several people at a baseball practice for Congressional Republicans was a Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) supporter and reportedly volunteered on Sanders’ presidential campaign.

Authorities say 66-year-old James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., opened fire Wednesday morning at a baseball field in Alexandria, Va. Five people were wounded, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). Hodgkinson was shot at the scene and later died in a hospital.

Sanders first issued a statement condemning the shooting, then addressed it in prepared remarks delivered on the U.S. Senate floor.

“I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign,” Sanders said. “I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms.”

The banner photo on what appears to be Hodgkinson’s Facebook page is an image of Sanders. The page is full of progressive and anti-Republican commentaries, many of them harsh or even vulgar. Hodgkinson was a frequent letter-writer to his local newspaper; the letters were sharply critical of Republican policies and politicians.

James Hodgkinson Credit: Facebook

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Hodgkinson volunteered for Sanders’ presidential campaign in Iowa. According to the Des Moines Register, Hodgkinson was not a paid staffer, and campaign operatives had no recollection of him.

The shooting broke out just after 7 a.m. Wednesday at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, a few miles outside of Washington, D.C. Scalise was shot in the hip and taken to a hospital for treatment. The wounded also included a Congressional staffer, a lobbyist and two U.S. Capitol police officers.

Here is video of Sanders’ full remarks:

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John Walters was the political columnist for Seven Days from 2017-2019. A longtime journalist, he spent many years as a news anchor and host for public radio stations in Michigan and New Hampshire. He’s the author of Roads Less Traveled: Visionary New England Lives, published by Plaidswede Press.

33 replies on “Walters: Congressional Shooter Campaigned for Bernie Sanders”

  1. Knowyourass…….. please tell me what facts I made up. Also Bernie himself on the floor of the Senate yesterday claimed the scumbag shooter as one of his campaign volunteer, and many of the protesters that have been taking part in violence that is going on around the nation have been seen in Bernie shirts. Also the scumbag that stabbed two people to death while trying to assault two Muslim women in Portland was an admitted Bernie supporter. So I think it’s time you get your facts correct sir. I’m not sure how any one that has posted on this article and has defended the action taken by anyone that uses violence can look at themselves and see a decent human. I think even Bernie knows he has created monsters he can no longer control and now he will try to pull the political trick of trying to distance himself from them. It won’t work this time. #timetovotethebaldguysout.

  2. I left out the recent stabbing deaths: This happened on June 3, 2017. Phillip Wade, 38, of Antioch was arrested for stabbing 57-year-old Anthony Johnson of Pittsburg multiple times at a bus stop on Saturday afternoon. Wades Facebook page had increasingly hostile statements and threats towards Muslims and African-Americans. On May 19, Wade posted a threatening racist statement concerning former President Barack Obama. The killer was described as more of a follower, who became a major Trump supporter. The victim in Saturdays fatal stabbing was black. And this one: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-n…

  4. Important to note that IF this man was a volunteer–which there is yet to be any actual proof of (he is not listed in volunteer logs and staff do not recognize him)–he was a volunteer with hundreds of thousands of others across the country. The lines being drawn between this man and Senator Sanders are absurd and nothing more than grasping at straws by the media to stir up a non-story and create even more hostility between democrats and republicans. Don’t drink the kool-aide!

  5. Citizen, why do you make up facts? I absolutely deplore what the students did at Berkley and Middlebury, but Bernie personally had absolutely nothing to do with those events. You’re entitled to your opinion that some radicals on the Left are as intolerant as some on the Right, which I share. But that is completely different from suggesting that Bernie promoted what happened at those events. You cannot simply make up facts to support an argument that Bernie promotes violence. You do Trump proud with your Fake News.

  6. Barbara, me be civilized? None of the people that I know that support President Trump have shot anyone. So you get off your high horse. I certainly did accept Obama as the President, I might not have liked it sometimes but I certainly accepted it, because I am a true American that accepts how the founding fathers of this great nation intended for political process to work. The left does not seem to be able to accept that same process.

  7. Knowyourass…….. How about the fact that not one Trump supporter has shot any member of the government. And over the past 18 months Bernies supporters have proven time and time again that their answer to opposition is violence. Example 1. Bernie supporter charges stage and tries to assault Trump at one of his rallies. 2. At the home of the free speech movement Bernie supporters burn Berkley in order to stop someone from speaking. 3.Bernie supporters at Middlebury assault a professor and another speaker in order to halt free speech once again. 4. Today the most hittiaus act of all a BERNIE SUPPORTER shot innocent people that were practicing for a charity event. Knowyourass…….. stop pretending to be a moderate Republican because your not. And Bernie supporters you should all remember violence is a sign of weakness. I hope I have not offended anyone so I don’t get censored again by the good independent people at 7days.

  8. Barbara Alsop where did you get the idea that Socialist Sanders is the single most popular politician in this country today…You’re drinking to much kool aid..wearing rose color glasses.. this is a man who wrote a paper in college stating that women enjoy being raped, they fantasize about it..Seven day did a article on it.!!! So I’m not making it up.. I know not one woman who wants to be raped..do you???

  9. You all say “oh Sanders isn’t violent” well unless this link gets deleted read and listen what Sanders is saying that Pres Trump is dangerous..and a nutcase like this is why he shot at republicans..Hodgkinson was a Sanders lover..
    .http://www.zootfeed.com/2017/06/14/bernie-….. Not just Sanders but all the democrats and even some rino republican are talking violence against Pres Trump.. Sanders and the rest need to shut their friggin mouths.. HikeVT stop looking up democrats lies.. I see you didn’t post anything about the violence from the democrats..Who do you think these fools who do violent protesting are republicans? No they are paid by democrats..

  10. Sadly, Vermont is obviously not immune from nutjobs on the lunatic fringe Left and fringe Right.

    A pro-Trump commentator blames this sad, tragic event on Bernie? Anyone who sees my comments on this site knows I am no Bernie fan, but c’mon. Only one candidate in the last election incited the crowd to violence at his rallies. Only one. And it wasn’t Bernie, and it wasn’t Hillary. It was the lying, insecure bully named Trump.

    A pro-Bernie commentator posits that this is a conspiracy by Hillary to get back at Bernie.

    Unbelievable. How sad it is that people actually believe this utterly paranoid nonsense, and spread it.

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