Lawmakers in Congress are rattled by the politically motivated shooting spree in Minnesota and want more protection for themselves.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, Michigan Democrat, canceled a planned Monday town hall meeting in her district after learning her name was on a list connected to the shootings of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota.
“Nothing matters more to me than the safety and well-being of the people I serve. After being made aware that my name was on a list connected to the recent tragic shooting in Minnesota, my office has made the difficult decision to postpone our planned town hall in Muskegon,” she said in a statement.
House Republicans held a conference call Saturday that included U.S. Capitol Police to discuss a perceived increase in threats to them and their loved ones.
One GOP House member privately told The Washington Times that he’s getting more threats against him, and law enforcement recently arrested a man who threatened to shoot him in the head at his next town hall.
The congressman said the suspect also threatened other House Republicans, but the suspect “happened to be one of my constituents, a Democrat.”
SEE ALSO: Feds level murder charges against man accused of shooting Minnesota lawmakers
The mounting fear on Capitol Hill stems from the attacks Saturday that killed a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and injured another lawmaker and his wife.
The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, was apprehended late Sunday and was charged Monday with federal murder and stalking crimes.
On the conference call, lawmakers peppered Capitol Police officials with questions about what they were doing for members when they were in their districts and how they were protecting them while they were working in Washington.
Some members complained about the Capitol Police’s lack of attention paid to the threats they had received.
The Times reached out to the U.S. Capitol Police for comment.
One lawmaker said many of them had pizzas delivered to their residences that they didn’t order.
“I know it sounds weird, but it happened to several different members on both sides of the aisle,” she said.
Senate leaders are also making arrangements to strengthen security details.
Senators will receive a security briefing Tuesday from the sergeant-at-arms and U.S. Capitol Police in the wake of the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, requested the briefing.
Mr. Schumer said he spoke with Capitol Police about increasing security for Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, both Democrats, as he recently did for Sen. Alex Padilla, California Democrat, who was detained briefly when he tried to confront Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference.
“I thank the sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol Police for increasing security for all three,” he said on social media.
Mr. Padilla found himself in the middle of a political firestorm after he pushed through the security detail at Ms. Noem’s press conference, while loudly asking questions of her.
The calls for more security follow years of growing violence aimed at elected officials, including two assassination attempts on President Trump.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill said they didn’t want to see a repeat of the Republican congressional baseball practice shooting, when a left-wing extremist nearly killed Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise and shot a congressional aide before being killed by authorities in a shootout.
Another shooting at a political event in Tucson in 2011 badly wounded Rep. Gabriel Giffords, Arizona Democrat, and killed six people.
In 2022, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was a congressman running for New York governor at the time, was attacked by a man with a sharp instrument during a campaign stop.
Last April, Nicholas John Roske, 29, of Simi Valley, California, pleaded guilty to attempting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home in June 2022.
On top of the physical attacks, lawmakers and officials have also faced countless “swatting” calls, where an individual makes false emergency calls to trigger an armed law enforcement response that creates risks of injury or even death.
In December, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger told a Senate committee that over 50 Congress members had been victims of swatting attacks in that month alone.
He also said that 700 members have faced threats that month.
