Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says that death threats and intimidation have been the norm during this election cycle as well as during her three-year career as the state's top law enforcement figure.
“In the last 24 hours, I had somebody come by my house, then get out of their car, went on the lawn and started taking pictures of my house,” she told to Vice News earlier this year while she was on the campaign trail. “It’s a scary time, there’s no question about that.”
But as Vice points out, Nessel didn't expect one those threats to come from her Republican challenger Matthew DePerno, a pro-Trump lawyer who is under criminal investigation for his role in an alleged vote meddling scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“I'm running against a guy who has the endorsement of the Republican Party in Michigan, who has made part of his platform wanting to imprison me, the [Michigan] Secretary of State and the governor of Michigan,” she said. “He has said repeatedly that that is his plan.
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“I don't know that it's safe for me to stay in this state," she said.
In a tweet from earlier this year, DePerno wrote, “When I'm elected, [Nessel will go] from wearing business suits to orange jumpsuits!”
"The adoption of violent and aggressive rhetoric within the GOP during this midterm election cycle, and post-Jan 6. writ-large, has already given rise to threats and intimidation against mostly Democrat members of Congress, seemingly culminating in the attack on Paul Pelosi, 82, in San Francisco late last month," writes Vice's Ben Makuch. "The alleged perpetrator yelled “Where’s Nancy” and later told police he planned to tie her up and torture her by breaking her knee caps under interrogation."
