PORTLAND, Maine — "It's sort of a bummer that we've gotten to this place," Samantha Derosier said, speaking in light of the weekend's events.
Derosier is one of many Maine voters shocked by the violent acts carried out at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
On Saturday, a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Another person at the event was shot and killed, and Secret Service agents then killed the suspected shooter.
"It really exemplifies how intense this whole situation has gotten," Derosier said.
In the wake of the violence and on the heels of a rematch between incumbent President Joe Biden and Trump, a question many people now have is how the assassination attempt will impact the election.
Derosier said she supports Biden and explained that what happened over the weekend won't influence her vote, but she also said she could see it affecting others' decisions.
"I'm not sure how it will affect people who are still on the fence. I think it might," she speculated.
"It will affect the election—I think we can say that for sure," Mark Brewer, political science professor at the University of Maine, said.
Brewer said he believed it was too soon to know the full effects, but he said he expected it will be used by the Trump campaign.
"Former President Trump's message has always been one of strength and toughness," he explained. "You've got this image of the former president surviving an assassination attempt, bouncing up in minutes, and aggressively looking at the camera ... with the image many Americans still can't shake of Joe Biden at the debate a couple weeks ago."
Not all political voices in Maine agree, however.
Maine Senate Republican Minority Leader Trey Stewart said he doesn't see the incident as something that could be coopted by the party to use in an attempt to influence voters.
"I don't see anybody's mind changing because of this event," Stewart said.
Stewart is one of the Mainers attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump was officially named the party's nominee Monday and J.D. Vance was named as his pick for vice president.
"I will say there's more security [at the RNC event], but that said, the plan is still the same," he said.
In his mind, the convention and upcoming election are about the country's political priorities.
"What are the ideas that are being put forward, and who's the best party to chart a course for our future for both our state and our country?" Stewart said.
But from a voter's standpoint, and even from someone who does not support Trump, Derosier said it would be a missed opportunity if Republicans didn't use the events of this weekend to their advantage.
"You have this unprecedented thing happen to you, it would be silly not to use it to your advantage somehow strategically," Derosier said.