On the same day the House voted to overrule the District of Columbia’s criminal reform that relaxed punishments for violent offenders, a Democratic congresswoman, Angie Craig, was assaulted in her apartment building by an unknown assailant. 

“This morning around 7:15 a.m., Rep. Craig was assaulted in the elevator of her apartment building in Washington D.C.,” her chief of staff wrote in a statement. “Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay.” 

According to a police report obtained by the Washington Post, Ms. Craig told law enforcement officials her attacker was acting “erratic” before the assault. He allegedly followed her into an elevator “and began to randomly do pushups,” the report states, before he punched her and grabbed her by the neck. Ms. Craig told officers she threw hot coffee on the man before he escaped. 

After the attack, Ms. Craig went to work on Capitol Hill. Police said they had no evidence that the attack was politically motivated.

Hours after the attack, Ms. Craig’s colleagues voted to block the city’s new criminal code, which would relax criminal penalties for those who commit crimes such as robbery, burglary, and carjacking. 

At a press conference on Tuesday, Majority Leader Steve Scalise called on Democrats in Congress to act because of the rising crime rates in the nation’s capital. 

“We see carjackings and other violent crime through the roof in D.C.,” Mr. Scalise said. “We’re bringing a resolution to reject that action by the D.C. council. And this is a resolution that has powerful teeth because if it passes the House and passes the Senate, it goes to Joe Biden’s desk … I would be curious to see what the President would do if that bill was on his desk. All we need is two Democratic senators to stand up.” 

Crime has risen in the city in recent years. In the first month of 2023, homicides increased by 40 percent over the same period last year, motor vehicle thefts by 73 percent, property crime by nearly 40 percent, and the number of sexual assaults has increased by 157 percent.