How many republicans or conservative politicians or public figures have been shot or killed since 2020?
Executive summary
A review of the provided reporting shows a small number of high-profile incidents involving Republican or conservative public figures being shot or wounded since 2020: the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in 2025 and at least one documented shooting that wounded former President Donald Trump in 2024; other cited attacks in the sources either fall outside the 2020–present window or targeted nonpartisan figures [1] [2] [3]. The sources do not offer a comprehensive, authoritative tally of every shooting of Republicans or conservatives since 2020, so any numeric conclusion must be read as constrained by the available reporting [1] [2].
1. What the reporting documents: named victims and dates
The sources repeatedly identify Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing activist and commentator, as a conservative public figure who was fatally shot in September 2025, an event widely covered as political violence against a conservative figure [1] [3] [4]. The reporting also documents at least one instance in which a Republican national figure—former President Donald Trump—was shot and wounded in July 2024, described as one of multiple assassination attempts against him [2] [1]. Those two incidents are the clearest, named examples in the supplied material of conservative figures shot since 2020 [1] [2] [3].
2. Incidents included in the political-violence narrative but not counted as Republican-targeted since 2020
Several high-profile violent acts cited in the same reporting concern other timelines or non-Republican targets: the 2017 congressional baseball practice shooting that wounded Republican Steve Scalise occurred before 2020 and thus falls outside the requested period [4] [5], and the 2011 shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords is likewise earlier and involved a Democratic target [6]. The 2020 attack that killed a judge’s son and injured her husband is documented in the sources but does not involve a partisan political figure as the primary victim [4]. Minnesota attacks described in 2025 targeted Democratic state lawmakers and are therefore not counted toward shootings of Republicans or conservative figures [7] [8].
3. What the data and reporting do not provide — and why that matters
None of the supplied sources present a comprehensive dataset or registry of all shootings of Republican or conservative politicians and public figures beginning in 2020; instead they offer case-focused news accounts, timelines and analytical pieces that highlight particular incidents and broader trends [1] [9] [10]. Because of that limitation, a definitive, exhaustive numeric answer cannot be constructed solely from these sources; the best-supported, conservative statement based on the reporting is that at least one conservative public figure was killed (Charlie Kirk) and at least one major Republican political figure was shot and wounded (Donald Trump) since 2020, while other high-profile incidents documented in the same reporting either occurred before 2020 or involved non-Republican victims [1] [2] [3].
4. Alternative perspectives, motives and the danger of selective tallies
Analysts quoted in the reporting place individual incidents in a wider context of escalating political violence and note that both left- and right-wing actors have been victims at various times, even while some datasets indicate right-wing extremist violence has accounted for a large share of domestic terrorism deaths since 2001 [9] [1]. Other commentators and partisan leaders respond to high-profile shootings by alleging conspiracies or “false flag” operations, especially on social media; the sources warn that these narratives can distort public understanding and that partisan framing often accelerates misinformation after shootings [7] [3].
5. Bottom line and recommended next steps for anyone compiling a fuller count
Based on the material provided, the documented count of conservative or Republican public figures shot or killed since 2020 in these sources is small: one named fatality (Charlie Kirk) and at least one prominent nonfatal shooting (Donald Trump) are clearly presented [1] [2] [3]. For a complete, verifiable tally beyond these high-profile cases, cross-referencing federal law-enforcement databases, state incident reports, contemporaneous local news archives and compilations from nonpartisan violence-tracking groups is necessary—none of which are supplied in the current source set [1] [9].