U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., made an appearance in Franklin on Monday, July 15, and emphasized the importance of people dwelling together in unity when asked for comment about the Saturday, July 13, assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

As Jamie Stengle of The Associated Press (AP) reported, Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday that set off panic as a bloodied Trump, who appeared to have been struck in the right ear, was surrounded by Secret Service agents. 

Kaine shared his thoughts on the assassination attempt during his visit to Franklin on Monday.

“It was heartbreaking,” he said.

Kaine said on Saturday, he had just left the last of three events in the Shenandoah Valley area when his chief of staff called him on the drive to Richmond and talked about what had happened.

“I was very, very stunned,” Kaine said. “And it just brought back a lot of bad memories. Being a person of my age, I’ve lived through this, and it’s just stunning. 

“And then I canceled my events for Sunday except going to church,” he continued, “and I just thought about, ‘What’s the wisdom that we need to embrace?’ And I thought of that phrase from the Psalms, ‘How beautiful it is when people dwell together in unity.’”

Alluding to his earlier comments, he noted that dwelling together in unity does not mean people have to agree on everything.

“But we’ve got to dwell together, live side-by-side with neighbors, work side-by-side with neighbors, go to school side-by-side with neighbors, and different points of view are natural, but we have to be unified as we respect one another,” he said. “And so I think it’s a challenge to all of us but especially those of us in leadership positions to try to do even better to set good examples.”

A former fire chief attending the rally with his family was killed, as was the gunman, and two other people are listed in critical condition.

Kaine also gave his perspective on President Joe Biden and his reelection bid.

Seung Min Kim and Nicholas Riccardi of the AP reported on June 28 that Biden, 81, was already fighting voter concerns about his age going into a June 27 presidential debate with Trump. During the debate, Biden was halting and seemed to lose his train of thought, sparking quick concerns among Democrats.

Since then, some elected Democrats have called for him to exit the presidential race.

During his appearance in Franklin on Monday, Kaine expressed support for Biden.

Having served as the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Kaine noted that not everyone liked his debate performance against the 2016 Republican vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence. Kaine also noted that former President Barack Obama had a poor performance in his first debate of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Kaine acknowledged that many people were asking questions about Biden after the June 27 debate.

“I’m just going to say this — I have deep confidence in Joe Biden because he’s a patriot,” Kaine said. “He’s a patriot, and by patriot, (I mean) he puts country over self, he puts others over self.”

Kaine later added, “Because I have that confidence in Joe, here’s what I know … I’m not (in) the inner circle in the same way I was with President Obama because I was early on the team, but (Joe’s) never disappointed me once in terms of making the patriotic call. If he believes, ‘I’ve got this,’ then I’m with him, and we’re going to win, and we’re going to win Virginia for Joe Biden.”