‘Somebody’s going to die’: Democrats warn of political violence after Paul Pelosi attack

Democratic politicians have ramped up their warnings about the threat of political violence in America after a man bludgeoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 82-year-old husband with a hammer in their California home on Friday.

The dire warnings come amid longstanding concern that security services provided do not adequately reflect ongoing threats, especially as midterm elections loom. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that Paul Pelosi's assailant had been carrying zip ties when he broke in.

"Somebody is going to die," Debbie Dingell, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, told the news website Axios. Dingell said that in 2020, after Fox News's Tucker Carlson broadcast a segment on her, "I had men outside my home with assault weapons that night."

Mike Quigley, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, similarly told Axios that the savage assault "is confirming what members know: we are completely vulnerable at a time when the risks are increasing." Quigley also said: "We need more ways to protect members and their families."

Indeed, the attack on Paul Pelosi appeared to have been intended for Nancy Pelosi, -Joe Biden said on Saturday. Authorities said that the attacker demanded "Where is Nancy?"; the veteran congresswoman was in Washington DC with her security detail when the assault took place.

On the day of the attack, a US joint intelligence bulletin warned that there was a "heightened threat' to the midterm contests, fueled by a rise in domestic violent extremism, or DVE, and driven by ideological grievances and access to potential targets," according to CBS's Nicole Sganga.

The man charged in the assault, David DePape, might have expressed his political ire - which largely mirrored far-right taking points - in recent online missives. An internet user with the handle "daviddepape" voiced support of the former US president Donald Trump and seeming belief in the conspiracy theory QAnon.