An board member in Arlington County, Virginia, released over the weekend two “distressing” messages threatening her life that she says she recently received recently.
Board member Maureen Coffey said in a post on X she’s received about 10 similar messages, threatening physical harm to both her and her family.
“It’s pretty distressing, it’s pretty scary,” Coffey told WTOP, describing the graphic language used in the messages. “Calling for me to be shot, killed, hanged. I’ve received messages saying people hope that I get raped or that my family is attacked.”
In the wake of the alleged politically motivated attack on two Minnesota lawmakers, security members have said threats to elected officials are on the rise. Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, upped patrols around elected officials homes after last weekend’s killings.
“What happened in Minnesota is part of a broader problem,” Coffey said in the post on X.
Coffey is working with the county’s Department of Public Safety to follow up on the threatening messages she received with appropriate action. It is not clear who exactly sent the messages.
She told WTOP she believes the political rhetoric in the nation is “completely off the rails.”
“I think it’s very challenging to understand kind of what makes someone go from ‘I really disagree with this person or this decision or this policy’ to being willing to send a threat directly to someone,” Coffey said.
A threat assessment conducted by U.S. Capitol Police and released in February of this year, indicated 9,474 threats were made to members of Congress and their families last year. That’s up from 8,008 in 2023 and 7,501 in 2022; but down from 9,625 in 2021 during the pandemic.
Coffey said it’s not just national leaders that are being threatened, local leaders are vulnerable, too.
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