Former U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) speaks at a Harvard Institute of Politics panel in Milwaukee on Tuesday. [Ben Szalinski/The Daily Line]   

Former U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Taylorville Republican, knows what it is like to be the target of political violence. Though not injured, Davis was present when a gunman opened fire on a group of Republican members of Congress in 2017 during a baseball practice before the annual congressional baseball game.  

Davis, who lost a 2022 primary to U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Hindsboro), said he still thinks about that shooting every day, which injured now-House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Speaking at an event in Milwaukee with the Harvard Institute of Politics where he is a fellow, Davis said he hopes the national feeling of the need to turn down the temperature in politics will last longer than it did in 2017.