The home of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was swatted on Friday, making her the latest victim in a string of such incidents.
Bellows said she’s become the victim of a series of threats in the wake of her decision to remove former President Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment on Friday.
“We were not home yesterday when threats escalated, and our home address was posted online,” Bellows wrote in a Saturday Facebook post. “It was a good thing because our home was swatted last night. That’s when someone calls in a fake emergency to evoke a strong law enforcement response to scare the target. Swatting incidents have resulted in casualties, although thankfully, this one did not.”
Bellows condemned the behavior that she says is affecting her and her employees.
“This behavior is unacceptable. The non-stop threatening communications the people who work for me endured all day yesterday is unacceptable. It’s designed to scare not only me but also others into silence, to send a message,” she wrote.
Bellows is the latest in a string of politicians who have been targeted this week. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) were among those who were recent victims of the increasingly problematic trend.
“Last night, while at dinner with my wife, cowards ‘swatted’ my home in Naples,” Scott wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week. “These criminals wasted the time & resources of our law enforcement in a sick attempt to terrorize my family.”
Greene estimated the Christmas false emergency report was the eighth swatting occurrence at her home this year.
“I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here. My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn’t have to deal with this,” she said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.