State lawmakers grapple with rise in threats

State lawmakers are increasingly concerned about the level of threats directed at them amid an uptick in political violence around the country. 

The most recent incidents occurred in Indiana, where a number of Republican legislators who have not thrown their support behind President Trump’s redistricting push were the victims of swatting attempts at their homes. That episode came after multiple Minnesota state lawmakers were targeted in June by a gunman, resulting in the deaths of state House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband. 

Alarm at the local and state levels comes amid rising fears over political violence nationally, which have only grown since the assassination attempts against President Trump last year and the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.

“Any time a lawmaker is targeted, such as the horrific assassination that took place this summer in Minnesota, it affects every one of us individually,” said Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R). 

“It changes everyone, it changes our community, it changes the way we do our work,” she added. 

The swatting incidents in Indiana are the latest to raise fears among local lawmakers. Swatting occurs when someone makes a prank call to emergency services, prompting a police or SWAT team response on somebody’s home. In this case, a number of Republicans targeted had been called out by Trump for not throwing their support behind his redistricting push.

In the wake of Kirk’s assassination in September, Utah House Democrats received threatening messages, baselessly accusing them of killing the prominent conservative activist. Around that same time, top Democratic leaders in Oregon’s state legislature received emailed bomb threats that turned out not to be credible. 

Over the summer, several bomb threats were reported at an Illinois hotel where Texas Democrats were staying after they fled their state in protest of a GOP-led redistricting effort.

Several months earlier, a gunman assassinated Hortman and her husband, and separately injured another state senator and his wife.

“There’s lots of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters in the legislature,” said Texas state Rep. Ramón Romero (D), one of the dozens of lawmakers who had to evacuate from their hotel in Illinois. “We’re still people.” 

Political violence has been a topic of concern at the national level for years. Trump last year suffered injuries after a shooting at his rally in Butler, Pa. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) home was set on fire in April. And on Wednesday, two National Guard members were shot, one fatally, near the White House. The suspect is an Afghan national who was injured and is currently in custody. 

Experts say state leaders could face more threats as local politics becomes nationalized.

“The tides of national politics are sweeping over them,” said Robert Pape, a political science professor at University of Chicago. “And of course, this includes the tides of political violence.” 

William Braniff, who serves as the Executive Director of PERIL at American University, and who was a top expert on political violence prevention at the Department of Homeland Security, said another factor was the country’s charged political rhetoric.

“The kind of violence we’re seeing is becoming more political, more partisan. That is due to hyper partisan rhetoric from political leadership that is dehumanizing the other party, basically justifying violence against others, even if that’s not the intent of the polarizing language, that is how it was heard by many constituents,” Braniff said. 

Trump has become a focal point in these conversations and has garnered criticism for his own rhetoric. Recently, he accused a group of Democrats with national security and military backgrounds of sedition and wrote of them on Truth Social: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a floor speech said Trump “has made political violence a feature of his politics.” 

Trump later clarified some of his remarks to Brian Kilmeade on Fox News Radio, saying he wasn’t “threatening them” or “threatening death” while suggesting Democrats were “in serious trouble.” 

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jacksonin a statement to The Hill pointed the finger at Democrats, suggesting their own rhetoric encouraged threats and attacks. 

“That’s why President Trump has urged all Americans to ‘commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died. The values of free speech, citizenship, the rule of law, and the patriotic devotion and love of God,’” she said. “But President Trump, and the entire Administration, will not hesitate to speak the truth – for years, radical leftists have slandered their political opponents as Nazis and Fascists, inspiring left-wing violence.” 

The concern over violence has caused challenges for candidate recruitment at the state and local level. 

“It’s really hard to get somebody in the community to step up and run for the role, if when they understand that you’re giving up your reputation and you’re giving up your physical safety, and those things are weirdly both really strong psychological hits,” said Missouri state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), who recounted having to call her children’s school once after learning of a credible threat against them.

Lawmakers have taken measures into their own hands, working on bills aimed at keeping themselves safer.  

In Michigan, for example, state House Judiciary Committee Chair Sarah Lightner (R) has worked on several pieces of legislation, including one recently signed into law that allows the sergeants at arms to offer additional security to lawmakers. 

Another piece that just passed the House would allow lawmakers to scrub certain personal information from the public view to make it harder for bad actors to find them, though she noted there would likely be “trailer” legislation as some critics have voiced concerns around transparency. 

“We have seen all this political violence all across the country, not with just me as an individual, other lawmakers get the same thing,” Lightner said. “And then sometimes our local law enforcement doesn’t necessarily treat it as a threat.” 

Experts also note that at least nine state legislatures now have a targeted violence and terrorism prevention strategy. Braniff, the executive director of PERIL, said he wants to see more lawmakers invested in those initiatives. 

“If you have a good prevention program that identifies people who are struggling [and] get some help, those people stay in school, they stay in the workplace,” he said. “They contribute to the tax base they contribute to their schools and their communities.” 

Pape also said that joint statements from Democrats and Republicans condemning violence is an important part of this solution. 

Lawmakers, too, see this moment as an opportunity to come together. Minnesota Senate Assistant Majority Leader Nick Frentz (DFL), who called Hortman a friend, likened the situation to a dysfunctional football team or company. 

“This is an opportunity for us to turn a corner and get back to what people really care about, which is a government that works for them and isn’t fighting each other all the time,” Frentz said.