Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) has detailed the extreme safety precaution his wife felt compelled to take after receiving anonymous, threatening text messages following Bacon’s refusal to back Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid for House speaker.
“She had terrible phone calls,” Bacon told reporters on Thursday, per The Hill. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I called her, and I go, ‘How you doing?’ She goes, ‘I slept really good. I had a loaded gun.’”
Bacon’s wife was warned her husband would “not hold any political office ever again” in an exchange that Politico’s Olivia Beavers shared on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week.
She later received the menacing phone calls, per Bacon.
Other Republicans have reported receiving chilling abuse for not backing Jordan.
Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) have reported death threats.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) was told to: “Go fuck yourself and die.”
Donald Trump-backed Jordan lost the first two floor votes on his speakership bid. The House remains at a standstill, more than two weeks after the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the role.
Jordan, who backed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, has condemned the threatening messages.
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