Brad Raffensperger's bid for Georgia governor hit an unexpected wall Tuesday when authorities uncovered a suspicious object at an airport where the Republican was scheduled to campaign, just hours after law enforcement received a threatening message targeting the candidate.
The Bibb County Sheriff's Office found what it described as a suspicious item inside a vending machine in a secure area of Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon at 8:21 a.m. The discovery came one day after the Clay County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi received a multipage manifesto Monday that featured a photo of Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, with the word "boom" written across his face, according to campaign spokesperson Ryan Mahoney.
No hazardous devices were detected during a sweep of the airport, and the facility was reopened. But the incident forced a security revamp for Raffensperger's planned six-stop campaign tour. Police dispatched protection for the candidate and his family and beefed up security across the entire itinerary.
"Law enforcement has a suspect and they are actively tracking that suspect," Mahoney said. "We have not released the name of the suspect nor the contents of the manifesto yet." The campaign did not clarify whether the bomb scare and the threatening message were connected or explain why the manifesto was sent to Mississippi rather than authorities in Georgia.
Raffensperger confirmed the threat in a statement Tuesday, refusing to abandon his campaign despite the circumstances. "It's not exactly the spot that we had envisioned, but it's clear that when you stand on principle, when you do the right thing, you put people ahead of politics, some folks just won't like you," he said. "In fact, some people will hate you, even want to try and hurt you. So yes, we are dealing with an active threat, and no, I refuse to back down."
The incident underscores the volatility surrounding Raffensperger's political profile. The Republican has faced repeated threats since he resisted former President Donald Trump's pressure to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. When Trump demanded he "find" additional votes, Raffensperger pushed back publicly and repeatedly, contradicting Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the state.
Raffensperger is running to replace term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp. His primary opponents include Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, one of the presidential electors who voted for Trump at the State Capitol after Georgia's official count confirmed Joe Biden's victory. Trump has backed Jones in the race.
Georgia's Republican primary is scheduled for next Tuesday. Local, state and federal authorities, including the FBI, did not immediately comment on the threat or the airport discovery.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "When a candidate's willingness to tell the truth becomes a liability measured in bomb threats and federal security details, the state of American politics has crossed into genuinely dangerous territory."
Comments