Michigan Dems take precautions amid uptick in political violence

BY ANDREW ROTH, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—Democratic candidates for statewide office in Michigan say they are taking additional precautions but won’t back down amid an “escalating pattern of political violence.”

Less than three months before right-wing podcast host and grassroots activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a public event on the campus of Utah Valley University, two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers and their partners were shot in their homes.

Minnesota House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their dog Gilbert died after the shooting. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were seriously injured.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was among dozens of Democratic officials named in writings found in the alleged shooter’s vehicle.

But Benson, a Democratic candidate for governor, told the Michigan Advance following a campaign event in Saginaw that while being named by the shooter is “chilling,” she would “use the threats to not just build strong security systems for all public officials, which I’m dedicated to doing, but ensure we’re staying focused on our work, and even doubling down on that work.”

“The goal of these threats is to get us to feel fear and be afraid of leading, be afraid of serving,” Benson said. “And if anything, they only make me more determined to do my job well, with integrity, and to continue to serve the people of Michigan.”

Other Michigan Democrats reportedly mentioned by the alleged gunman, Vance Luther Boelter, include US Sen. Elissa Slotkin and US Reps. Debbie Dingell, Hillary Scholten, Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar.

About two months before the Minnesota shooting targeting lawmakers in their homes, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence was set on fire using two Molotov cocktails while Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and his family slept inside.

Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who is also running for governor as a Democrat, said there was a credible bomb threat at his home following Kirk’s assassination earlier this month.

Gilchrist noted that he and his wife, Ellen, raise their young children in the home.

“The purpose of this violence is to silence, intimidate, and eliminate people and their voices from our society,” Gilchrist said in a statement. “That won’t work on me. We cannot let this remain our reality.”

“We cannot tolerate political violence,” Gilchrist continued. “We cannot excuse it. We cannot normalize it. We have to push through this and do the work to do better. It’s not easy, but nothing important ever is.”

While several Republican candidates for governor—including former Attorney General Mike Cox, US Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.), Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Twp.)—weighed in on Kirk’s assassination, with Nesbitt calling it “an act of terrorism,” only one returned a request for comment after the Minnesota lawmakers were killed.

Former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard said in a statement that restoring civility is an issue he has long cared about, pointing to a speech he gave after being elected speaker in late 2016, which he called, at the time, “one of the most uncivil [election cycles] in our nation’s history.”

“I believe over the next two years, the citizens of our state not only want to see more civility in our political process, I believe they are going to demand it from us,” Leonard said at the time.

Michigan Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) said in a statement that he, like Gilchrist, also received a “detailed and specific message” threatening him with a bomb at his home the day after Kirk’s assassination.

Moss is running for the U.S. House in the 11th Congressional District, seeking to succeed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), who is running for US Senate.

Stevens declined an interview request but said in a statement that she is “looking forward to traveling to every corner of our state as part of this campaign.”

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) told the Michigan Advance that legislators don’t have the same resources that statewide officials do, like dedicated security details.

McMorrow said that when she first entered office, she was comfortable simply showing up to public events without thinking about exits or security.

She had been in the state Senate for a little more than a year when men carried long guns into the chamber’s gallery during a protest of emergency orders meant to limit the spread of COVID-19 infections in 2020.

“We all understand when we get into these jobs that we expect a level of scrutiny,” McMorrow said. “We don’t expect somebody showing up at your house with a premeditated plan to kill you.”

Now, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, McMorrow says she is taking additional precautions, like making local law enforcement aware of all her public campaign events and holding security briefings to talk through plans for arriving at and departing events. She also has a body guard and said she and her husband, Rey, think carefully about when to bring their young daughter to public events and what pictures to share online.

But McMorrow said she will go out of her way to hold more public events because she feels strongly that candidates and officials have to be accessible and available in order to rebuild relationships with voters, but she has concerns that the political violence could deter people from running for office.

“I worry about the people who will want to do these jobs in the future,” McMorrow said. “I’ve certainly talked to, particularly women, who have thought about running for office, who decided not to over the last few years because they just cannot put themselves into this position, and I don’t blame them.”

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said in an interview with the Michigan Advance that multiple current and former elected officials have asked him for advice on how to protect themselves, including a retired judge who received a threatening text message related to a case he heard while on the bench.

“I say the same thing: Cameras, dogs and lights,” Swanson said. “Those are the things that deter people from doing things that are violent.”

Swanson, who is running for governor as a Democrat, said he still feels safe on the campaign trail, citing his law enforcement background.

“I carry a firearm wherever I go,” Swanson said. “I carry my badge and my handcuffs, and if anything were to happen, I am going to deploy in police protect mode. The 33 years in this field that I’ve had has allowed me to be in very dangerous situations. So I am cautious, but I’m not fearful.”

But he says his wife has concerns after seeing elected officials and their families targeted in their homes.

“These are things that have gotten people, and for good reason, concerned,” Swanson said. “It’s human nature to think that could have been me, and nobody’s immune from it.”

Swanson likened the current political climate to that of the 1960s, when four major political leaders were assassinated.

“We are going to have adamant disagreement. But political violence? NEV-ER,” Swanson said, breaking his final word into two distinct syllables for emphasis.

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for US Senate, said the trend is especially troubling because each act of political violence is a sign that part of the country gives “a certain level of validation to foreclosing on the democratic process.”

“Whether you’re participating as a candidate or you’re participating as a voter, or you just believe in democracy and haven’t voted in a minute, this should be really scary to you,” El-Sayed said. “Because the thing about violence is that it usually doesn’t stop at one go. And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is where are we in this collapse, and does it go further?”

El-Sayed, a former director of Wayne County’s health department, said the solution is to double down on democracy and recognize the circumstances that led people to feeling like violence was the only solution.

“Nothing can explain or justify what that shooter did,” El-Sayed continued. “I think we have to understand that we live in a society that creates shooters like that right now, and we need to make sure that we are healing as a society, and that means using the democratic process to solve the challenges that exist in too many people’s lives.”

El-Sayed said he keeps his two young daughters and his wife, Sarah, at the forefront of his mind when campaigning. He never shares photos of their faces in public.

But ultimately, he said his daughters increase his resolve.

“I don’t want them to grow up in a world where people get shot because of their political opinions. And so that means that you have to work toward that world,” El-Sayed said.

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This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.