Rusty Bowers, a former speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives who played a pivotal role in resisting efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, drove into his neighborhood east of Phoenix the day after Christmas to a spine-chilling scene.
His home, nestled off a dirt road in an unincorporated slice of the desert, was surrounded by sheriff’s deputies. An unknown caller had reported that there was a pipe bomb inside and that a woman had been murdered.
After searching the house and questioning Bowers’s wife and grandson, according to Bowers and authorities, sheriff’s deputiesdetermined that neither claim was true.
The incident of swatting, a prank call to emergency services designed to draw a law enforcement response, wasn’t just a terrifying moment for Bowers and his family. It was one of many violent threats and acts of intimidation that have defined the lives of various government officials since the 2020 election. And now they are casting a shadow overthe 2024 campaign as Americans prepare to vote in a primary season that kicks off this month.
Those on the receiving end span the range of America’s democratic system, including members of Congress, state officials, local leaders and judges. While some are prominent, others have relatively low-profile roles. The intensity has accelerated in recent weeks.
Bomb threats last week caused evacuations at state capitol buildings across the country. Federal authorities arrested and charged a man with threatening to kill a congressman and his children, while other members of Congress dealt with swatting incidents. The Maine secretary of state and the Colorado Supreme Court, both of which recently deemed Donald Trump ineligible to run for the presidency because he engaged in an insurrection, received a surge of threats after being castigated by Trump in speeches and social media posts.
Police responded to an alleged swatting attempt Sunday night at the home of Tanya S. Chutkan, the federal judge overseeing Trump’s election subversion case in D.C., according to a person familiar with the matter and a Chutkan family member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the incident is being investigated.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday calledthe wave of threats against government workers and public servants a “deeply disturbing spike.”
While some on the right have been affected, many targets share a common attribute: They have done or said something that has earned Trump’s ire.
Experts say that acts of physical violence toward officials and politicians since the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, remain relatively rare. But they caution that the possibility of harm being inflicted on public servantsis already undermining the health of U.S. democracy because the intimidation risks influencing their decision-making.