'You will all be executed': Election season threats are growing more violent
Threats against election workers and other public officials have moved beyond calls and texts to shootings and a bombing in this incendiary political season.
Threats that resulted in charges this week include a Philadelphia man vowing to "skin" and kill a state party official for recruiting poll watchers and an Alabama man threatening to execute election officials in Arizona.
An Arizona man was charged with shootings at a Democratic Party campaign office. And a California man was charged with bombing a courthouse.
“As we approach Election Day, the Justice Department’s warning remains clear: anyone who illegally threatens an election worker, official, or volunteer will face the consequences,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing action in four cases this week. “For our democracy to function, Americans who serve the public must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives.”
The cases include:
In the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, police arrested Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, on Tuesday and charged him with 10 counts including committing a terrorist act and criminal damage in connection with three shootings at a Democratic Party campaign office. FBI agents seized more than 120 firearms including “machine guns” from his home. Kelly’s lawyer, Jason Squires, declined to comment.
A California man, Nathaniel James McGuire, 20, of Santa Maria, was indicted Wednesday and charged with bombing a Santa Barbara courthouse. A man threw a bag that exploded in the courthouse lobby on Sept. 25 and injured five people. McGuire was arrested nearby next to a red Ford Mustang that contained a shotgun, a rifle, more ammunition, a suspected bomb, and 10 Molotov cocktails. He allegedly yelled the government had taken his guns and called on Americans to rebel as he was taken into custody, according to court records.
A federal election threats task force, which Garland established three and a half years ago to coordinate investigations with local authorities, announced action in four other cases this week:
In Colorado, Teak Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening state election officials and making other threats to an Arizona elected official, a Colorado judge and federal law enforcement agents between September 2021 and July 2024. Brockbank allegedly threatened that an election official "has to Hang by the neck till she is Dead Dead Dead."
In Alabama, Brian Jerry Ogstad, 60, of Cullman, was sentenced on Monday to 30 months in prison for sending messages threatening violence to election workers in Maricopa County, Arizona, in August 2022, around the primary elections. Ogstad sent multiple threatening messages to an Instagram account maintained by the county election office that included: "You will all be executed for your crimes,” “You are lying, cheating [expletive]" and “You [expletive] are so dead.”
In Florida, Richard Glenn Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, was charged Monday with four counts of making an interstate threat over alleged Feb. 9 harassment of an election official ? in addition to already pending charges for threats made to three other victims based on their political commentary in 2019 and 2020. Kantwill, a dentist, allegedly sent more than 100 threats to various public figures via Facebook and Instagram messages, email, and texts, with racist messages including: “You are a degenerate (expletive)" and "Take note because liberal (expletives) like you get raped in alleys."
In Pennsylvania, John Pollard, 62, of Philadelphia, was charged Monday with allegedly threatening on Sept. 6 to "skin" and kill a representative of a Pennsylvania state political party who was recruiting official poll watchers.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said threats to election workers represent threats to the democratic process.
“To carry out their essential work, election officials must be free from improper influence, physical threats, and others forms of intimidation,” Monaco said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said elections are made possible by the hard work and patriotism of election workers.
“The fact that election workers need to be worried about their security is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” Wray said.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election threats are growing more violent. What do they look like?