Some startling beliefs in the United States were revealed in a study last fall by the University of California, Davis: Nearly one in three respondents said violence was justified to advance political objectives, like stopping an election from being stolen, or to “preserve an American way of life I believe in.”
That reflects a broader trend of rising support for political violence — something that has already had real consequences. In a 2021 survey, more than 80 percent of local officials in the U.S. said that they had been threatened or harassed.
“A steady undercurrent of violence and physical risk has become a new normal,” my colleagues Danny Hakim, Ken Bensinger and Eileen Sullivan recently wrote in The New York Times. “Often masked by online anonymity and propelled by extreme political views, the barrage of menace has changed how public officials do their work, terrified their families and driven some from public life altogether.”
I highly recommend their full article, which is important and compelling.
The reporters spoke to Joe Chimenti, a former chairman of the board of supervisors in Shasta County, who started getting death threats soon after he took office in 2019. A wave of anti-government sentiment began to engulf the county during the coronavirus pandemic, and grew after Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.
Chimenti, a Republican, chose not to run for a second term. “I got into this to make a difference,” he said, “but I thought, Why do I want to put up with this?”
Natalie Adona, the Nevada County clerk and recorder, said her staff had become accustomed to confrontations with people menacing them over contentious issues like election results and public health mandates.
“A lot of what we have experienced falls into this gray area,” Adona said. “It makes you look over your shoulder.”
The rest of the news
State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, Democrat of Los Angeles, introduced a bill Monday that would delay by a month the gradual increase of the minimum wage to $25 an hour for certain health care workers.
Southern California
The designer Gustaf Westman’s pop-up shop in Los Angeles has drawn large crowds of shoppers intrigued by his bold furniture pieces and objects.
Central California
Voters will head to the polls today to choose who will fill the seat in Congress left vacant by Kevin McCarthy, who resigned last year after being ousted as House speaker.
The King County Farm Bureau and two landowners have filed a lawsuit over California’s decision to take over monitoring groundwater use in the San Joaquin Valley, The Associated Press reports. The plaintiffs say the takeover is “an act of state overreach”; the state water board told The A.P. that it was required to act because local groundwater plans in the valley were inadequate.
Northern California
Jim Otto, who played center for the Oakland Raiders for 15 seasons, has died at age 86. The Raiders’ announcement did not say where or when he died or cite a cause.
Tamara Rojo, the San Francisco Ballet’s new artistic director, has a vision of ballet as for the people, with dances that reflect our world.
The owners of two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay where a farmworker killed seven people last year will pay more than $450,000 in back wages and damages to 62 workers, the Labor Department said.
And before you go, some good news
Monday is Memorial Day, and California State Parks is offering free admission at 143 state parks for veterans and active-duty and reserve members of the military and their families.
You can find the list of participating parks here.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
The post Threats of Violence Become the New Normal for Politicians appeared first on New York Times.