HOSTILITY: Threats & Harrassment

BDI produces regular state-focused situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends and activity to help partners identify early warning signs of political or election violence in Michigan.

Threats and harassment against local officials decreased from September to October. The latest Threats and Harassment Dataset (THD) update adds nearly 80 new events, including 25 for October, bringing the total number of events captured so far in 2025 to over 470. Following the spike in threat and harassment incidents targeting officials in the aftermath of the September shooting of Charlie Kirk, community-specific and personal legal issues reemerged as the primary drivers of incidents in October.

Threats and harassment against local officials decreased from September to October. The latest Threats and Harassment Dataset (THD) update adds nearly 80 new events, including 25 for October, bringing the total number of events captured so far in 2025 to over 470. Following the spike in threat and harassment incidents targeting officials in the aftermath of the September shooting of Charlie Kirk, community-specific and personal legal issues reemerged as the primary drivers of incidents in October.

BDI produces regular state-focused situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends and activity to help partners identify early warning signs of political or election violence in Ohio.

BDI produces regular state-focused situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends and activity to help partners identify early warning signs of political or election violence in Michigan.

The latest BDI-CivicPulse survey of 400 local elected officials and 200 school board officials continue to show a high baseline of both hostile experiences and worry about future hostility through the first quarter of 2025, negatively affecting their willingness to take part in key activities like participating in public events. New survey questions also reveal that local officials are seeking expanded resources to mitigate these risks and their impacts.

Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025, threats and harassment spiked sharply nationwide. In the days after Kirk’s death, a wide range of teachers, professors, journalists, and everyday citizens were targeted with doxing and harassment over real or perceived criticisms of Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA. The latest data collected by BDI shows that local officeholders were also chief targets of this campaign, highlighting how incidents of political violence can rapidly escalate into widespread intimidation of public officials and civil society.

BDI produces regular state-focused situation reports (SitReps) on key risk trends and activity to help partners identify early warning signs of political or election violence in Wisconsin.

This memo covers insights from a dozen interviews with local elected officials in November 2025.

Threats and harassment against local officials decreased from October to November. The latest Threats and Harassment Dataset (THD) update adds 60 new threat and harassment events to the dataset, including 18 for November, bringing the total number of events captured so far in 2025 to over 500. Community-specific issues remained a consistent driver of incidents for the month, though to a smaller extent compared to previous months. So far this year, THD has no recorded threats or harassment against election officials and and has seen fewer election-related grievances, compared to the years preceding the 2024 presidential election.