CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — Beto O’Rourke said that the United States, which has endured a bloody Civil War and, as recently as the 1960s, political assassinations, race riots and a Vietnam war that ultimately led to 58,000 U.S. casualties in a conflict most Americans opposed, is "more divided' and 'more highly polarized' in 2019 than ever before.

The former Texas congressman and his 2020 Democratic rival Pete Buttigieg drew connections between gun violence, white nationalism, and national security as they made their respective pitches at the Iowa Democrats "Wing Ding" dinner on Friday night.

O’Rourke, 46, appeared at the Friday night fundraiser via video from his hometown of El Paso, which is grappling with the shooting deaths of 22 people at a Walmart last weekend after a white supremacist opened fire with an assault-style weapon.

“I’m here to make sure that at this moment we do not allow ourselves to be defined by this act of terror, this act of hatred, this act of violence, but instead by the way in which this community overcomes this attack,” the presidential candidate told prospective voters.

“And also sets an example, I hope, for the rest of the country, a country that has never been more divided or more highly polarized, this community’s ability to see our differences not only as something that should be tolerated or respected, but as embraced as the foundation of our success, of our strength, and yes our safety and our security," he added.

Meanwhile, Buttigieg, 37, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said the country couldn’t achieve national security without racial justice.

“Let alone when we have a president who is coddling white nationalists,” he told the crowd. “White nationalism is a national security threat to this country.”

The prospect of more stringent gun control dominated the discussion at the dinner, which featuring much of the 2020 Democratic primary field, including during Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan’s speech. Ryan has been lobbying Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Senate so Congress can take legislative action.

Following the shooting in El Paso, nine more people were killed by a man wielding a firearm in Dayton, Ohio. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker dedicated his five-minute address to gun violence, praising O’Rourke for his leadership and saying the 2020 election wasn’t just a referendum on Trump, but was a “moral moment” for the American public.