Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was swatted twice in the span of just 48 hours, according to a tweet she sent out Monday. Reports of swatting, the practice of calling 911 to falsely report a serious crime in order to illicit a potentially deadly response by police to someone’s home, have risen in recent years among election officials. And it seems likely that the trend will only get worse as we get closer to the 2024 presidential election this November between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
“Hateful rhetoric and violent threats have no place in our democracy. Yet twice in the last 48 hours my home was targeted in a disturbing ‘swatting’ attack,” Benson tweeted. “I’m grateful for the professional, coordinated response from local and federal law enforcement who quickly contained the threat and worked to ensure our safety.”
Benson has been the target of attacks from right-wing nutjobs who believe she’s the reason Trump lost the election in 2020. In fact, Benson was told that Trump at one point suggested she should be arrested for treason and executed. The Trump campaign has denied the former president ever said such a thing, according to NBC News, but Trump has very publicly suggested that other people within his own administration deserve the death penalty, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
Election officials in Maine, Georgia, Missouri, and Virginia have all been swatted recently, according to CNN. Most have sworn they won’t be intimidated, and Michigan Secretary of State Benson has said the same, writing on X that the swatting would not change how she’s helping administer the election in Michigan.
“Swatting is a form of political violence that is horrific, dangerous and intended to terrify its victims. But hear me clearly: I will not be intimidated,” Benson wrote. “These threats never have and never will deter me from my job: ensuring Michigan citizens can have confidence in their secure, fair, accurate elections. I will continue to stand with election professionals throughout Michigan to guard every citizen’s vote no matter who they are, where they live, or who they vote for. Onward.”
President Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,188 votes in 2020 and was on track to lose the state if he had stayed in the race, according to polling averages maintained since roughly November 2023. But Kamala Harris has reversed course for the Democrats and the latest polling from the New York Times has Harris winning by 4 points.
No one knows for certain who will win in November, but Harris has built up significant momentum and is doing very well in the polls. Unfortunately, that means Trump and his army of neo-fascist thugs have even more incentive to use swatting and other forms of harassment to swing the election if they can’t win it fairly.
