2024 saw dramatic events of political violence, from assassination attempts and attacks on marginalized communities, to the pernicious rise of threats and harassment during a pivotal election that set the country on edge. Our research shows this climate of hostility escalated through the election cycle and is on track to continue into the new year, with tangible consequences for the post-election risk environment. America is entering an uncertain chapter, one that continues to present real obstacles to our country’s promise of pluralistic, multi-racial democracy.
We're clear-eyed about these challenges, but we’re also confident in the ecosystem’s capacity to meet them. In 2024, under intense pressure, local officials, civil society organizations, and community leaders came together to ensure Americans could vote safely. People from all walks of life reinvested in peaceful civic engagement in their communities, taking part in de-escalation and safety trainings that increased their skills and confidence to stand up to dehumanizing attacks.
Over the past five years, BDI has helped to support this critical infrastructure — our expert staff have worked day in and day out to deliver trusted, actionable information on political violence risk, and to develop the resources communities need to respond. Growing from a team of two to more than 25, we’ve helped build key components of the country’s early warning and de-escalation system, including by expanding our state-based mitigation and rapid response programming.
Heading into 2025, our team will continue to not only advance a broad understanding of political violence risk in the U.S., but also to make sure we remain steadfastly accountable to the communities we serve. We’re as committed as ever to providing the tools necessary for efforts to monitor and mitigate any threats that may emerge in the new year. We are consistently inspired by the incredible work of our partners across the country, to address both immediate harm and support the fundamental dignity of all.
Below you’ll find a snapshot of our work to track and mitigate political violence in 2024. We’re thankful for your continued engagement and support as we prepare for the work ahead in 2025.
With gratitude,

Shannon Hiller
Executive Director
Bridging Divides Initiative
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BDI is working for a future where thriving communities are prepared to respond in periods of risk, empowered to address long-term divides, and supported to build a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy. Over the course of the year, our team took significant steps toward making this vision a reality.
BDI supported national, state, and local community groups to grow their resilience and actively mitigate risk ahead of time — and to respond with confidence when attacks or threats did occur. Whether relying on our team of national and state-based experts, referencing our de-escalation and community safety directory, or joining one of our regular collaborative briefings, stakeholders across the country reported taking concrete action, feeling better prepared to actively reduce risk, and being more able to respond constructively to conflict, threats, and political violence.
Leading into and throughout the 2024 election cycle, BDI’s robust information flows, support to early scenario planning, and partnerships with leading organizations to share new trainings with hundreds of election workers and volunteers paid off: America saw a safe, secure election. Our dedicated Election Hub as well as expanded engagement with national and local media initiatives like the Knight Election Hub provided even wider access to our resources and enabled conflict-sensitive coverage of risk. Our state leads (in GA, NC, MI, PA, WI, and AZ) leaned into year-round relationships with coalitions, distributing over 120 state-specific reports or memos, providing real-time coordination and briefing on emerging issues, and building the overall connections necessary for a strong conflict early warning system that will be essential in the coming years.
BDI increased broader knowledge and awareness of the context and consequences of political violence, while still empowering positive action. Our team reached new audiences and addressed gaps in understanding of political violence — including during high profile, high stress local and national moments — while still enabling the media and our partners to "take the temperature down" and undercut the impact of purposeful fear-mongering. In targeted communities and locations as diverse as Springfield, Ohio and western North Carolina, our team provided trusted information in times of acute crisis. Drawing on our deep library and longitudinal data on political violence, our national and state researchers provided context, dispelled rumors, and linked to practical resources — reducing fear, preventing escalation, and supporting empirically driven solutions. Find more examples of our work in action below.
BDI helped document a rise in hostility in civic space and highlighted potential solutions as threats and harassment continued to spread. Our mixed methods Understanding Threats and Harassment (UTH) project provides collaborative, timely data and resources to understand the nature and impact of hostility at a local level. Our nationally representative surveys with CivicPulse expanded to cover threats to school board officials. Conversations with more than 150 local officials elevated existing mitigation strategies while identifying additional needs for support. Media coverage and wide usage of the research has helped raise awareness for the disproportionate targeting of women and minority officials, and contributed to greater public understanding of election safety efforts to protect officials and voters in 2024.
As demand for our work has grown, BDI has also filled key new positions and professionalized our project-wide functions, hiring for over a dozen new roles in 2024. We invested in additional leadership positions to enable this rapid growth, including essential communications, operations, and grant expertise in line with our strategic plan. New full-time research roles deepened our research capacity, enabling consistent coverage and increased responsiveness to requests from communities and partners across the country.
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In addition to the impact outlined above, BDI regularly worked with local and national media to support context-specific reporting on political violence risk and elevate positive community response. Over the course of 2024, BDI’s research and expertise was cited in well over 100 media reports, on a wide range of conflict topics. Examples include:
- BDI insights were cited in dozens of stories on election-related risks and contributed to greater public understanding of election safety efforts, including in the New York Times, NPR, Guardian US, USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, La Opinión, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Katie Couric Media, NJ Advance Media, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Coverage of our UTH project in outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News, New York Magazine, USA Today, and the Guardian US helped raise awareness of hostility targeting officials and created new avenues for local officials to bring their stories to national audiences. Local outlets in states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia drew on our UTH research to track threat and harassment trends against officials in their communities.
- Following the deadly shooting at President-Elect Trump’s campaign rally, we worked with local media in Pennsylvania to contextualize the incident and pair coverage with resources to help communities respond. Our locally informed analysis of the incident and related political violence trends was used to support national coverage as well, including in the New York Times, Newsweek, and NPR.
BDI’s data and analysis supported the work of a wide range of additional practitioners, policy makers, and research groups in 2024, continuing to serve as an ecosystem-wide resource. Throughout the year, our digital tools were accessed more than 100,000 times by over 30,000 active website users. A few key examples include:
BDI’s UTH research was cited by an array of academic, government, and civil society actors in 2024, including the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse. Our Threats and Harassment Dataset (THD) alone was downloaded by 400 researchers and organizations this year.
Our empirically-driven, rapid response research helped ground policy discussion in new data and elevate existing conflict mitigation options:
New formats like our Drop Box Monitoring Fact Sheet and Guide to Prepare for Safe Elections, as well as contributions to partner resources like the Protect Democracy and Over Zero Media Guide to Covering Political Violence Risks Throughout the Election Cycle, increased usability of our data and resources by both media and practitioners.
Our Issue Brief on campus encampments was widely cited by civil society groups and policy makers, including in Navigating Conflicts: A Guide for Campus Leaders and Public Safety Personnel, produced by the U.S. Justice Department to provide "campus administration and public safety leaders a framework, supported by practical ideas and tools, for dealing with campus conflict as they plan for a safe beginning of the academic year."
Our experts participated in dozens of public and closed briefings and convenings on political violence trends and mitigation strategies, including briefings for organizations like the OAS Electoral Observation Mission and the ICAP regional convenings, as well as events hosted by SPIA NJ, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, ACLED, the Elections Group, the American Press Institute, Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, A More Perfect Union, ESOC, and Eradicate Hate, among many others.
- BDI insights were cited in dozens of stories on election-related risks and contributed to greater public understanding of election safety efforts, including in the New York Times, NPR, Guardian US, USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, La Opinión, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Katie Couric Media, NJ Advance Media, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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Work to ensure communities have the tools they need to track and respond to the threat of political violence is more important than ever. In 2025, BDI is set to continue executing our 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, advancing efforts across all three of our core programming areas: delivering action-oriented research, creating space for cross-sector collaboration, and building frameworks for policy response.
Just a few examples of new or expanded research and resources are:
The expansion of our state lead support to a total of eight states by January, with Texas and Ohio leads now onboarding;
More frequent public fact sheets and in-depth research reports, including deep dives into our rich Understanding Threats and Harassment (UTH) data;
The public launch of our Political Violence and Analysis Library, alongside improved access to our data and tools across online spaces; and
The creation of new avenues to support empirically-driven policymaking that mitigates violence, elevates de-escalation and community safety approaches, and builds community resilience.
How You Can Support Efforts to Counter Political Violence
This work to protect our communities and our democracy is impossible without your support. Contact us to receive BDI’s 2023-2026 Strategic Plan and learn more about our mission, vision, and existing funding needs.