‘Rise in violent rhetoric’: Lawmakers in both parties report spike in death threats

The voicemail begins innocuously enough. “Yeah, this voicemail is for Madison,” a man says, casually, as if he’s trying to get in touch with an old friend.

But then steel enters his voice. “I am armed. I am dangerous. And I know where you and your staff are.”

That threat against Madison Cawthorn was just one of thousands sent to members of Congress last year. It may not surprise many that Cawthorn, a North Carolina Republican who himself once urged his supporters to “lightly threaten” their representatives, inspired such vitriol. But controversy hunters like Cawthorn are hardly the only members of Congress facing a bombardment of death threats.

CQ Roll Call asked every member of Congress whether they had received a death threat since 2020. Of the 147 who responded, 110 — or about 75 percent — said yes. While more Democrats replied to our inquiry than Republicans, 95 to 52, death threats were pervasive among both parties: 74 percent of Democrats said they had received one, compared with 77 percent of GOP respondents.

The threatened run the gamut of the House and Senate, from the hyper-partisan moths who fly toward the latest controversy to the little-known wallflowers toiling away in near anonymity. While prior reporting has tracked a spike in threats using yearly totals from the Capitol Police, our informal survey suggests just how widespread the problem has become.

“I don’t know many members of Congress who haven’t received a death threat,” said Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J.

Most congressional offices do not comment publicly on threats, but several members agreed to use their names, and dozens more replied on the condition of anonymity. Cawthorn’s office responded with the voicemail above but declined an interview request.

‘Gotten rid of’

Democrats described a wave of invective around the time pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it engulfed rank-and-file members, not just party leaders. “We’ve seen a 100 percent increase in death threats since Jan. 6,” said Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota.

Threats against Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania surged in 2021. “The greatest increase in threats came after the congresswoman ran the debate on a resolution to invoke 25th Amendment against the former president,” her spokesperson said.

Capitol Police estimate they reviewed 9,600 disconcerting messages and direct threats against members in 2021, an increase from 3,939 in 2017. The 2020 tally was 8,613.

Those counts include multiple threats against the same people, as well as nasty communications that may not cross the line into targeted threats. Our survey asked only about “death threats,” which capture just a portion of what lawmakers receive.

A spokesman for Indiana Democratic Rep. André Carson, who has received both kinds of messages, illustrated the distinction. After Carson, one of three Muslims in Congress, condemned Islamophobic comments made by Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, he received a slur-soaked voicemail.

“This caller said Muslims would be gotten rid of,” his spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, many of these types of messages members of Congress receive, including this one, may not explicitly state the desire or intention to kill, and therefore may not officially be considered death threats by some law enforcement organizations.”

Capitol Police declined an interview request.

But at a hearing this month, Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger warned that with critical staffing shortages on the force after Jan. 6, in part because of the pandemic, it wasn’t easy to keep up. “We’re investigating the threats against Congress, but I will tell you we’re barely keeping our head above water for those investigations,” he told lawmakers.

The threats against members of Congress don’t surprise Andrew Mines, a research fellow at George Washington University, who said both Republicans and Democrats have dehumanized their political opponents in recent years, characterizing them as malevolent perils rather than different-minded compatriots.

“No party is immune,” he said. “When members of your party bring that kind of dialogue … into the mainstream, sometimes it backfires.”

Congressional staffers usually bear the brunt of the verbal onslaught fired at their bosses. Sometimes, they’re the targets. One longtime Senate Republican aide, who asked not to be named to speak candidly, said he’s considered leaving the public sector.