Among lawmakers’ typical discussions in the Capitol building Thursday about government funding, Senate rule changes and health care subsidies, the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk never seemed to lurk far from the surface.

The shooting death of the 31-year-old in Utah the previous day was mentioned in nearly every media scrum and press conference. It came up at committee meetings and in interviews after House votes.

What emerged from lawmakers was a heady mix of personal grief, condemnations of political violence and soul-searching about the state of political discourse in the country, as they grappled with a victim being someone so well known to many in Republican circles.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said during a committee markup that political violence “is absolutely an

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