Public Officials Face Violent Threats Like Never Before
Earlier this week, a gunman fired shots at the home of Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson and left a crudely written note that said, “NO DATA CENTERS.” No one was injured, but the incident underscores the volatile environment those in public life endure in a U.S. political environment that is increasingly divided and vitriolic.
The threats and acts of violence reach all the way from city officials like Gibson to the highest profile individuals, and the examples are numerous: A shooter tried to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign. A gunman murdered activist Charlie Kirk last year at an event at Utah Valley University. A group of men planned to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. A gunman murdered a Minnesota State Senator and her husband at their home.
A new study from the Public Service Alliance (PSA) analyzed publicly disclosed spending from federal campaigns and campaign committees. Examining only campaign data, PSA found that federal candidates spent five times more on security in the 2023-24 election cycle than they did during the 2015-2016 cycle. The spending included personal protective services (excluding the cost of federal- or state-provided services like that provided by the U.S. Secret Service); security technology, such as home surveillance and alarm systems; event security; and digital monitoring.
In the last decade, federal campaigns spent more than $100 million on security. Home-related security spending in the last decade reached $900,000. The total spent on digital-related security was $1.4 million. For event-related security, campaigns spent more than $5 million. And remember, those figures are what the campaigns spent on security; they do not include federal, state, or local law enforcement expenses unless the campaign specifically paid the municipalities for security services.
One PSA recommendation resulting from the study, The Cost to Run for Office, is that “policymakers should assess how to reform existing or pass new campaign and committee laws—across the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels—to ensure that the people seeking elected office can dedicate resources toward legitimate security services for themselves, their families, and their staff—from candidacy to when they’re serving in elected office.”
The Impact Project tracks threats and violence against public officials that are documented in news stories. The dataset includes all manner of public officials from elected officials to administrators to law enforcement. The project reports a 2,030 percent increase in violent threats against public servants from 2015 to 2025. Threats against family members of public officials increased by 3,700 percent over the same time period.
“Violence against public servants extends far beyond high-profile figures such as members of Congress. Today, librarians, school board members, election workers, 911 dispatchers, and even mail carriers face escalating levels of hostility and intimidation. Threats now impact those serving at every level of government, with judges, law enforcement, and election workers among the most frequent targets,” the Impact Project’s study noted.
