Which US politicians have been attacked while in office since 2016?
Executive summary
Since 2016 reporting and datasets document a noticeable rise in attacks, assassination attempts and plots against U.S. politicians, candidates, judges and government employees; CSIS counts 25 attacks and plots between 2016 and 2025 targeting elected officials, candidates, judges, political staff and other government employees motivated by extremist partisan beliefs [1]. Major, widely reported incidents since 2016 include attempts on Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, the 2022 hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, plots targeting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Michigan’s governor, and multiple shootings and arson attacks in 2024–2025 affecting state lawmakers and governors [2] [3] [1] [4].
1. The scale and source numbers — what analysts count
Researchers and think tanks report a clear uptick in politically motivated attacks since 2016. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) tallied 25 attacks and plots targeting officials and related actors from 2016 through 2025 [1]. Media compilations and timeline pieces track many of these as individual cases — assassination attempts, home shootings, arsons and hostage plots — feeding the broader sense that political figures face growing physical risk [4] [5].
2. High-profile federal figures who were attacked or targeted
Reporting identifies several nationally prominent targets since 2016: former President Donald Trump faced at least two apparent assassination attempts during the 2024 cycle and earlier threats dating to his candidacy in 2016 [2] [5]. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi was violently attacked during a 2022 home break-in that investigators say was politically motivated [3]. There were also plots and investigations involving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a scheme to kidnap Michigan’s governor, all cited in contemporaneous coverage of politically motivated violence [3].
3. State and local officials: a rising share of victims
A notable concentration of attacks involves state and local officeholders. Examples cited in 2025 reporting include the June 2025 killings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and shootings of another state lawmaker and spouse; arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s residence while the governor and family were inside; and drive‑by shootings at homes of New Mexico officials after the 2022 election controversy [4] [1] [6]. These incidents illustrate analysts’ concern that threats have moved beyond high-profile national figures to routinely endanger local elected officials [1].
4. Patterns, motives and partisan context
Analysts link the surge to increasingly polarized rhetoric and conspiratorial narratives since 2016. CSIS and other researchers describe many attacks as motivated by extremist partisan beliefs, while academic and journalistic work connects the spread of conspiracies (including election-related falsehoods) and incendiary political language to higher willingness among some to endorse or carry out violence [1] [7]. Coverage emphasizes that perpetrators’ motives range across the political spectrum but recent high-profile cases and data analyses stress the role of right‑wing radicalization and election-fraud conspiracies in many incidents [8] [7].
5. What counts as an “attack” and the limits of public tallies
Definitions matter: counts mix successful assassinations, attempted shootings, home invasions, arson, and plotted kidnappings. CSIS explicitly counts “attacks and plots” targeting multiple types of public servants [1]. News timelines and compilations focus on incidents that targeted individuals rather than broader property attacks or anonymous threats, which means some datasets undercount threats, while other incident lists include property attacks and party‑office arson [4] [9]. Available sources do not offer a single, exhaustive roster of every politician assaulted since 2016.
6. Competing perspectives and political implications
Sources present competing emphases: some analyses and officials highlight right‑wing radicalization and conspiracy theories as principal drivers [8] [7], while others and broader compilations note attacks across the political spectrum and warn of rising threats to both parties’ operatives and offices [9] [4]. Policymakers and the White House have framed the trend as a national security and law‑enforcement priority, citing multiple assassination attempts during the 2024 cycle and a spike in attacks on certain federal officers [10].
7. What’s missing from current reporting
Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, named list in this set enumerating every U.S. politician assaulted while in office since 2016; rather, they offer case-by-case reporting and aggregated counts [1] [4]. For a definitive, itemized roster you would need to cross‑check CSIS’s dataset, law‑enforcement records and contemporaneous reporting for each year since 2016 — records that are beyond the scope of the articles compiled here [1].
Summary: Multiple reputable sources document a post‑2016 rise in politically motivated attacks affecting national, state and local officials; CSIS’s 25 attacks/plots (2016–2025) and media timelines of high‑profile attempts and assaults illustrate the trend, but no single public list in these sources names every individual politician attacked since 2016 [1] [4] [2] [3].