Ohio lawmakers deal with threats, decry political violence

Following the assassination of Hortman — who, along with her husband, was killed in her home on June 14 by a gunman who shot and seriously wounded another Democratic lawmaker and their spouse earlier that day — party leaders in both the Ohio House and Senate were given added security details.

“For our family, there was a period of time after the assassination of the former speaker in Minnesota where I think all of us, the minority leaders and the speaker and the president, all had increased security presence outside their house,” McColley said. “And that was because we just didn’t know what was going to happen, we didn’t know how this was going to play out.”

Additional security measures were enhanced at the Statehouse afterward, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, and House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters last week. “The simple fact is we don’t know who’s a danger and who’s not, and the police can’t be everywhere all of the time. So, there’s a variety of things that we put in place,” Huffman told reporters. Out of precaution, he didn’t provide specifics.

McColley said he’s never really felt “overly concerned” about his public safety. “But, you know, it is difficult in some cases to explain to your children why there’s a state patrolman parked outside your house.”

State Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., told this outlet that he’s noticed an uptick in political violence or threats since he joined the legislature in 2019.

“My first two years it wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t get many threats at all, so there was an uptick here over the last four years, which is kind of weird,” he said. “You know, it starts at the top, it’s the rhetoric at the top. Both sides get irritated and get at it, it’s unfortunate. We’ve just got to get back to being normal and being civil with each other.”

Plummer said he and a handful of his lawmaking colleagues recently received letters filled with a white powder meant to resemble anthrax.

Historic, recent violence

Hortman’s assassination was seen as a flashpoint of escalating tensions in American politics, reverberated by the Sept. 10 public shooting of Kirk during a well-attended speaking event at Utah Valley University. When discussing political violence and its threats, Antonio and Huffman both made note of the fact that violence has long been a facet of American politics.

“I know that it’s a moment right now and it feels so intensified, right?” Antonio said. “...Political violence has been a part of my whole life. I was very young when President Kennedy was killed, and then Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King and it just goes on and on. I have an awareness of the fact that political violence has been a part of our history all the way through.”

Huffman harked back to the assassination of JFK, and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, and noted there are less-often cited historical acts of political violence, like an attempted assassination of President Harry Truman.

This outlet asked Huffman, a member of the Ohio General Assembly since 2007 who was in local elected office for more than a decade before that, if he’s noticed more political violence threatened against Ohio officials in recent years.

“I don’t know that there are more threats. I really don’t know the answer to that question,” Huffman said. “I mean, over the past several years, there’s a variety of things that have been mailed to me or have come over emails, things like that, and those are certainly of concern.”

“I think people are paying a little bit more attention to what we’re doing. I think we’re more high-profile than we used to be, probably,” Antonio said.

‘Antithetical to Democracy’

“To this day, most people — left and right, partisan and in between — understand that solving political differences through violence is un-American; it is antithetical to Democracy; that there are other peaceful ways, ballot box and beyond, that we challenge ideas and try to win over policy toward our ideas,” Devine said.

Plummer, like McColley, said he hasn’t been overly concerned about his own safety. “It’s a concern, it could happen, but what do you do? You can’t live in fear.”

Some of his peers, he said, have been more unsettled.

McColley told reporters he believes the ratcheting tensions, and the threats and acts that have come with it, will ultimately serve as a deterrent to political activity.

“I would say, you know, this has a chilling effect on good people wanting to serve; and it’s going to if this type of thing continues,” McColley said. “Good people who have the ability to come in and make a difference and be good public servants for their communities are gonna look at it, and they might even say, ‘Look, is it really worth going in if we’re seeing a rise in political violence across the country?’ ”