A few months ago, Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) received an anonymous video of someone following her car. The camera pans down to a 9-millimeter handgun on the seat as a male voice says: “I see you. I got something for you.” In June, police charged a man with making “terroristic threats” against Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). The man left on the congressman’s doorstep a dead rat with a noose around its neck and a brick with a family member’s name. Police intervened in January when more than a dozen supporters of then-President Trump confronted, surrounded and threatened Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) as he was catching a flight at a Washington airport. In a year that kicked off with the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, threats against lawmakers are soaring. In the first three months of 2021, the U.S. Capitol Police recorded 4,135 threats against members of Congress. If that pace continues, total threats this year will double those in 2020.
