LIVE VIDEO: Congressional Baseball Game

ESPN reports:

More than $1 million has been raised for charity ahead of Thursday night’s Congressional Baseball Game in Washington, according to the organization’s Facebook page. The Republican team was holding its last practice before for the game when five people were shot Wednesday morning at a suburban Virginia park, including Rep. Steve Scalise (R- LA), the third highest-ranking republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) says he will be at third base Thursday even though the gunman, identified by the FBI as James Hodgkinson, approached him just before he opened fire, asking if the team practicing “was Democrats or Republicans.”

The game is now poised for what could become an attendance record. Rep. Sanchez said in the previous 14 years she’s played, they averaged about 15,000 in ticket sales. Thursday, the non-profit that organizes the game — called The Congressional Baseball Game for Charity — posted on its Facebook page, “We have exceeded 20,000 in ticket sales” after the Washington Nationals released additional seats to sell.

Democrats and Republicans are tied at 39 wins each for the annual game, which launched in 1909.

Media setting up as folks start flocking to Nationals Park. #CongressionalBaseballGame @thehillbaseball @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/xpR1siHK8g

— Alex Rose (@AlexRoseNews) June 15, 2017