On Wednesday morning, America’s capital city was about as normal as it comes, with tourists mingling with office employees and Park Police on the National Mall and legislators carelessly crossing the grounds of the Capitol to waiting black SUVs. By Thursday afternoon, after an assassin’s bullet brought down one of the conservative world’s most visible spokesmen, everything had changed.    

Lawmakers are canceling public events, the Democratic Party’s headquarters was briefly surrounded by bomb squad officers, and President Trump — who is reportedly receiving additional security — seemed despondent at a 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. One well-known legislator is swearing off outdoor events entirely and promising to start carrying a firearm wherever she is legally allowed to do so.

Although news of Charlie Kirk’s death spread late Wednesday, many lawmakers had already left Capitol Hill by the time it had circulated widely. When members of Congress returned to work Thursday morning — after they had the night to process what had happened — it became immediately clear that everyone is now on edge. 

Congressman Derrick Van Orden berated members of the Capitol press corps for the assassination, though the suspect has not been located and the motive is not yet confirmed. Speaking to reporters on the steps of the Capitol, Mr. Van Orden pointed his finger at the reporters’ faces and blamed “every single one of you here.”

“You are at fault,” he said sternly. When a reporter asked how he could blame the press for something that happened a couple thousand miles away at the hands of an unknown suspect, Mr. Van Orden shot back: “You know what — knock it off.”

“You are responsible for that assassination yesterday. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he said before turning to walk up the stairs. “It’s disgusting.”

Speaker Mike Johnson urged his colleagues to tone down the rhetoric shortly before Mr. Van Orden began his tirade. The Louisianan, who has served in the House since 2017, says he hopes cooler heads will prevail. 

“I’m going to do what I’ve always done,” Mr. Johnson told reporters on Thursday. “I’m always about turning down the temperature and encouraging members to walk in the dignity of their office and treat one another with dignity and respect. And I think it’s an important moment for leaders to say that.”

Six days ago, Mr. Johnson disclosed while at an event in Canada that the number of threats of violence against members of Congress increased by more than 50 percent between 2024 and 2025, and that was just by the beginning of September.

Mr. Johnson said on September 6 at a gathering of foreign parliamentary leaders that while House members received a total of 9,000 threats during calendar year 2024, there have already been 14,000 threats issued against lawmakers through the first eight months of 2025. 

Another Republican lawmaker, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who is running for governor in her native South Carolina, told reporters on Thursday that she now has local law enforcement protecting her office back home. She also says she plans to carry a firearm wherever she is able to from now on. 

“I have to deal with [my] children who think they’re gonna get murdered at school. I have to deal with employees right now who are afraid to come to work,” Ms. Mace told reporters as she prepared to leave town. “I am one of the most vocal [lawmakers],” she said, insisting that she fears for her own safety. 

“I will not be doing any outdoor events any time soon,” Ms. Mace announced. “I hope that we all take this seriously.”

Mr. Trump himself is reportedly taking on additional security measures in the wake of the shooting. The president mentioned Kirk during remarks at the Pentagon Thursday, as he was honoring those killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The president says he will be posthumously awarding Kirk the Medal of Freedom. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Secret Service was tightening security around the president, including for his trip to New York City Thursday night to attend a Yankees game. 

Wednesday’s murder was not the first high-profile assassination of a political figure in recent months. Over the summer, a former speaker of the Minnesota house of representatives and her husband were shot in their home, leading many lawmakers to push for additional security measures in that state. In July, Congress modestly increased its members’ ability to use official funds for security, though it was mostly to be used for home security systems. 

The mood at the nation’s capital feels different than it did after the Minnesota attack, however. Unlike with the assassinations over the summer, the shooting of Kirk was caught on camera. Many people working on the Hill and in the press corps have studiously avoided graphic video of the incident, but many others found the temptation too much and later expressed regret. 

As lawmakers headed home Thursday morning, staff members and reporters who were still on the Hill got even more news about security issues — a bomb threat had been made against the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee just blocks from the Capitol building. 

Capitol police later determined that the threat was not credible, but a bomb squad and K-9 units were called to the scene out of an abundance of caution.

The Kirk assassination made clear that no one is safe at this moment of heightened political tensions. Lawmakers — whether they were friends with Kirk or fiercely disagreed with him — are taking nothing for granted. 

“I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. Any elected official across the country, if you are vocal, your life is at risk,” Ms. Mace said Thursday.