National

Over the past two years, BDI has conducted interviews with more than 150 local elected officials to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of threats and harassment on local government. These conversations have painted a concerning picture of hostility at the local level, but they have also revealed the wide array of tools officials are leveraging to respond to threats and harassment. Analyzing the variety of risk mitigation strategies surfaced throughout the interview research, this report breaks down five key response types that were consistently highlighted by officials at the frontlines of local government: (1) Individual strategies, (2) Peer support, (3) Connections with town administrators and service providers, (4) Official procedures and community outreach approaches, and (5) Legal and security options.

Local monitoring is essential for identifying early warning signs. BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends at the national and state level, disseminated to a vetted list of community leaders and organizations.

Local monitoring is essential for identifying early warning signs. BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends at the national and state level, disseminated to a vetted list of community leaders and organizations.

Starting on November 6, numerous predominantly Black organizers, activists, and students across multiple states began receiving text messages with racist content telling them to report to their “nearest plantation” site. The texts came from various area codes, and were sent to recipients in at least Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Ohio, and Alabama at the time of this report. These texts have since been widely reported to law enforcement. The VA Attorney General’s office has publicly confirmed they, and the FBI, are aware of the incidents. The language in the text messages appears to have originated from racist right-wing imageboards, including 4chan, as well as shared on a subreddit that has since been removed by Reddit moderators. An individual or individuals likely copy-pasted the text and used virtual phone numbers to send out the texts, selecting recipients based on their demographic profile. The recipient phone numbers could have been obtained via a data broker or a pre-existing data breach. We assess the security risk to individuals receiving the text messages is low, given the absence of additional personally identifiable information (PII) – such as recipients’ addresses – contained in the messages.

BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends to help partners identify early warning signs.

Local monitoring is essential for identifying early warning signs. BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends at the national and state level, disseminated to a vetted list of community leaders and organizations.

Local monitoring is essential for identifying early warning signs. BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends at the national and state level, disseminated to a vetted list of community leaders and organizations.

Using new data covering the full election period, this analysis maps key trends in election-related threats and harassment through the run-up to the vote and its immediate aftermath. It focuses on hostile activity targeting election officials, poll workers, election judges, and volunteers working in an official capacity to support the voting process.2 The findings provide a deeper understanding of the threat environment in which these civil servants carried out the 2024 election, and offer lessons for future election protection efforts going forward.

This analysis looks at over 4,000 survey responses from the last two years to explore both the contributors to, and effects of, worries about hostility. It additionally investigates whether, and to what degree, demographic factors and personal experiences with hostility are connected to the severity of worries about hostility, as well as their links to willingness to engage in political behaviors such as running for re-election or working on controversial topics.

Local monitoring is essential for identifying early warning signs. BDI produces regular national situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends at the national and state level, disseminated to a vetted list of community leaders and organizations.