My guest this week on the AZ Political Podcast delivered a speech at Utah Valley University on Tuesday, Sept. 9 — just one day before Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on the same campus.
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator and representative from Arizona, has had close brushes with political violence. He was on the baseball field when Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in the head in 2017 during practice for the Congressional baseball game.
Not only that, but Flake also was in Tucson not long after Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot by a man at a constituent event in 2011. Despite their political differences, he came to comfort the family of a Congress member from the other party.
AZ Political Podcast: Jeff Flake reflects on political violence
Flake sat beside Giffords during the 2012 State of the Union (right before she resigned from Congress) and helped her stand during the parts of President Barack Obama‘s speech so she could cheer with her fellow Democrats.
Despite criticism from fellow Republicans, who thought he was standing to cheer for Obama, he said at the time he didn’t care about the optics and simply wanted to help a colleague.
After the assassination of Kirk, Jeff Flake reflected on how the U.S. can move beyond partisan divisions and reconnect through empathy, kindness, and shared national values.
I believe that’s what Jeff Flake is trying to accomplish in his latest role: Founding Director of ASU’s Institute of Politics.
I don’t know if we’ll ever achieve a world where Democrats and Republicans respect and work with each other again, but I sure like hearing the way Senator Flake describes it.
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