The bomb threat sent to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s Stamford home on Friday is part of a growing number of threats made against public officials across the state and U.S. in recent years.
Tong has been one of the more outspoken state officials regarding President Donald Trump’s policies. The Democratic attorney general regularly holds press conferences criticizing the Republican president, especially over his attempts to overturn birthright citizenship.
The FBI, which is investigating, has not returned a request for comment.
Tong said this is the first time he’s received this kind of threat. He said he wasn’t sure if his outspokenness against Trump’s policies played a role.
That follows bomb threats made in November against members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation.
Then, on Wednesday night, State Sen. Stephen Harding — the Republican minority leader — reported that a bomb threat had been made against him and his family.
For local and state officials around the country, threats of bodily harm are happening more frequently – from harassment to physical assault.
The Brennan Center for Justice issued a report last year showing that more than 40% of state lawmakers surveyed said that threats were made to themselves or to their staff within the past three years. Elected officials who are women and people of color were more likely to face harassment. The report indicated more Republican state lawmakers said the situation was worsening, compared to Democratic state officials.
Tong’s higher profile in recent months may have played a part in the bomb threat, said Jonathan Wharton, a political science professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
“The more attention you’re getting, you’re going to draw an interest beyond the Connecticut media market, you will go beyond the New York media market … the attention will be there,” Wharton said.
The bomb threat against Tong is “just another example of the dangerous impact of the heated rhetoric coming out of Washington,” said Roberto Alves, Danbury mayor and chair of the Democratic State Central Committee.
“Every day, the [Trump] administration issues statements and executive orders that demonize and target people across the country who are simply living their lives, going to work or exercising their right to speak out against policies they disagree with,” Alves said.
Tong said he would not back down.
“I'm going to continue to do my job and fight hard for the people of the state, and I will not be bullied or intimidated, but leave my family out of it,” Tong said.
Republicans are also being targeted, said Republican State Sen. Ryan Fazio, who represents Greenwich, Stamford, and New Canaan.
“The politics of individuals and their opinions should not matter,” Fazio said. “They should always be safe from threats. We've seen the upper leadership of the Republican Party receive threats and be subject to assassination attempts in recent years and now we're seeing members of the Democratic Party leadership receive threats as well.”
State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, a Democrat who represents Bridgeport and Fairfield, said she has not received threatening messages. But she mentioned threats State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff received recently after he advocated for a bill that aims to prevent censorship in public and school libraries.
Vahey did say she has noticed a more confrontational tone from the public.
“The tenor and tone has changed,” Vahey said. “Certainly it’s changed on social media, but even in emails and in some of the testimony that we received … the level of aggression is different than it was before.”
