Threats and Harassment Against Local Officials Spiked in July, New Data Shows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2024

Incidents more than doubled nationwide amid heightened tensions following the Trump rally shooting in Pennsylvania and a series of cases where multiple officials were targeted simultaneously in states like Washington and Tennessee.

Princeton, NJ – Reported threat and harassment events targeting local public officials in the United States more than doubled in July, according to the latest monthly update from BDI’s Threats and Harassment Dataset (THD). At least 70 events were recorded for the month, up from just over 30 in June (see graph below). The spike comes amid heightened tensions following the deadly shooting at former President Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where an uptick in threats against local officials was reported after the attack, as well as a series of cases where multiple officials were targeted elsewhere in the country, such as a doxing campaign against local officials in Washington and harassment of local officials by neo-Nazis in Tennessee.

"The rise in threats and harassment is unacceptable," says BDI Executive Director Shannon Hiller. "While the vast majority of Americans have joined to reject calls for political violence, the data demonstrates that more needs to be done to protect civic space. With the election approaching, local officials and community leaders are as prepared as ever to ensure we have another safe and secure vote despite the risk environment, but we must all come together to take down the temperature and push back on this climate of hostility.”

THD Events Line Graph

Key Trends

  • So far this year, over 320 threat and harassment events have been reported across more than 40 states and the District of Columbia. 
    • Events are up 30% compared to the first seven months of 2023, and 87% compared to the same time period in 2022.
    • At the current pace, 2024 is on track to surpass 2023 in total number of threat and harassment events.
  • A series of cases where multiple officials were targeted at once contributed to the increase in July, including a doxing campaign against local officials in Washington and harassment of a large gathering of elected officials in Tennessee by affiliates of the Goyim Defense League, a neo-Nazi hate group.
    • Threats and harassment against local officials in Pennsylvania also rose in the aftermath of the shooting targeting former President Trump at a campaign rally in the state on July 13th.
  • In addition to these cases, the data shows that threats and harassment are becoming increasingly normalized at the hyperlocal level, beyond national politics and election-related issues.
    • The latest THD update adds a new category to the variable tracking the relevant issue driving each threat and harassment event to better capture hyperlocal motivations, such as specific local government votes, policies, and regulations.
    • Analysis of the updated data reveals that threats and harassment motivated by hyperlocal issues are on the rise, targeting local elected or appointed government officials in particular. These hyperlocal incidents accounted for the majority of events recorded in July (see graph below).
THD Issue Type Graph

The THD is publicly available and updated monthly. This release includes updates to THD methodology to better capture new and emerging trends. For more on these coding improvements, please see the methodology note and full THD Codebook. To access the dataset, please register here.

For inquiries, please contact Sam Jones at [email protected].

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The Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI) is a non-partisan research initiative based at Princeton University that tracks and mitigates political violence in the United States. BDI seeks to contribute to a future where thriving communities are prepared to respond in periods of risk, are empowered to address the long-term divides we face as a society, and are supported to build a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy.

The THD is part of BDI’s Understanding Threats and Harassment Against Local Officials (UTH) project, a mixed methods approach to systematically monitor the full scope of threats and harassment facing local officials across the United States, and is made possible by the UTH consortium. Current members of the consortium include the Anti-Defamation League, the Brennan Center for Justice, CivicPulse, the Prosecution Project, the National League of Cities, and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, among others. BDI regularly works to expand data contributions to address gaps in coverage. If you believe your organization has relevant data to contribute, please reach out to [email protected].

The project is supported by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Bipartisan Policy Center, and generous flexible support from BDI’s core funders, following essential start-up funds from the Anti-Defamation League and Stand Together Trust.