Lawfare Archive: Intimidation of State and Local Officeholders with Maya Kornberg

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4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

From February 22, 2024: As a new report on the intimidation of state and local officeholders from the Brennan Center for Justice points out, “The January 6 insurrection at the Capitol seemed to mark a new peak in extremist intimidation targeting public officials. But it was hardly the only act of political violence to break the period of relative stability that followed the assassinations of the 1960s.” Citing the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, last year’s hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, and many other cases, the report paints a troubling picture of today’s climate of political violence in America.

To talk through the report and its implications, Lawfare Senior Editor Quinta Jurecic and Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sat down with Maya Kornberg, a Research Fellow at the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program and one of the report’s authors. They discussed how Maya and her team surveyed so many state and local officials across a number of jurisdictions, the pervasive risks and threats those officeholders face, and how these threats are distorting U.S. democracy as a whole.

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0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising.
0:04.4	To access an ad-free version of the Lawfare podcast, become a material supporter of Lawfare at
0:11.5	patreon.com slash lawfare. That's patreon.com slash lawfare.
0:18.2	Also, check out Lawfare's other podcast offerings, Rational Security, Chatter,
0:25.2	Lawfare No Bull, and The Aftermath.
0:46.3	I'm Carolyn Cornet in Turnout Lawfare with an episode from the Lawfare Archive for May 11, 2025.
0:52.5	Last month, an arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's official residence forced the governor and his family to evacuate in the middle of the
0:55.0	night. Police have since charged the perpetrator with attempted murder, arson, and terrorism.
1:01.1	For today's archive episode, I selected an episode from February 22nd, 2024, in which Quintagresc
1:08.5	and Tyler McBrion sat down with Maya Cornberg to discuss a report on the intimidation of state and local officeholders,
1:15.5	which found that 89% of state legislators and 52% of local officials experienced threats, attacks, or other forms of abuse in the past three years.
1:25.5	They talked about the risks and threats these officeholders
1:28.5	face, how these threats are distorting democracy, and more.
1:40.1	I'm Tyler McBrion, managing editor of Lawfare, and this is the Lawfare podcast, February 22, 2024.
1:47.8	As a new report on the intimidation of state and local office holders from the Brennan Center for Justice points out,
1:52.4	quote, the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol seemed to mark a new peak in extremist intimidation targeting public officials,
1:58.7	but it was hardly the only act of political violence
2:00.9	to break the period of relative stability that followed the assassinations of the 1960s, end quote.
2:06.7	Citing the 2017 shooting of Representative Steve Scalise, last year's hammer attack on Paul Pelosi,
2:12.0	and many other cases, the report paints a troubling picture of today's climate of political
2:16.3	violence in America.
2:23.5	To talk through the report and its implications, Lawfare senior editor Quinta Jurecic and I sat down with Maya Cornberg, a research fellow at the Brennan Center's Elections and Government Program, and one of
	...

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