Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) lost his son Perry Inhofe in a plane crash in November, and the GOP Senator said that his loss has brought him closer to his Democratic colleagues.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I seem to have gotten more, at least as many, maybe more, of communications from some of my Democrat friends. And I’m a pretty partisan Republican,” Inhofe said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They realize that you’ve lost someone, and that brings us closer together.”

Inhofe said that when there’s tragedy, some of the walls between the two parties fall, even though lawmakers’ beliefs remain unchanged.

“Something like this happens, and all of a sudden the old barriers that were there, the old differences, those things that keep us apart just disappear,” he said. “Those defined positions, they don’t change. But your attitude changes. And I can’t help but think when I’m confronting someone on something on which we disagree, that I know how they responded to my loss.”

Watch the video via NBC: