Trump’s ongoing dispute with the Khans has become a call to political action for Kevin Ahearn of Phoenix. His brother, Army Major James Ahearn, converted to Islam to marry a woman with whom he fell in love in Iraq, brought to the United States and with whom he had a daughter before he was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2007.

Kevin Ahearn, 48, said on Tuesday that he and his husband planned to go to Democratic Headquarters in Phoenix to volunteer for the first time.

“It makes me all the more determined that he does not make it to the White House,” said Ahearn, whose Muslim niece now is 10.

The soldier’s mother said she was shocked by Trump’s rhetoric and wishes she could talk to her late son about it.

“He was always a staunch Republican because they backed the military. I can’t imagine how he would feel now,” said Constance Ahearn, 75, who lives in the San Francisco area.