Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state in Georgia and a candidate for governor, received a “manifesto” deemed to be a “credible threat on his life” on Monday, the day before a suspicious object disrupted a campaign event in Macon, campaign officials said.
The four-page, handwritten document included a photograph of Mr. Raffensperger with the word “Boom” written across his forehead, campaign officials said. It was “multipage,” and “it was obviously targeting the secretary of state,” Ryan Mahoney, a campaign spokesman, told The New York Times.
Mr. Raffensperger has been the subject of hundreds of threats since the 2020 presidential election, when he bucked President Trump’s efforts to reverse his defeat.
The letter was mailed to the sheriff’s office in Clay County, Miss., which notified the F.B.I., officials with Mr. Raffensperger’s state office and his campaign said. Other agencies notified included the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia State Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Mahoney said. Officials also beefed up security for Mr. Raffensperger and his family.
It remained unknown if the suspicious object found at the campaign event in Macon was related to the manifesto, Mr. Mahoney said, or if officials knew the identity of the writer of the letter.
“The person has not been found yet who issued the threat yesterday,” Mr. Mahoney said. “We’re still trying to find that person, obviously trying to see if there’s a connection point between the bomb threat” and “the manifesto that was sent yesterday against Brad.”
The incident occurred at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon, where Mr. Raffensperger had stopped as part of a daylong campaign swing across the state in his bid for the Republican nomination for governor. The primary is May 19.
Mr. Raffensperger’s campaign said law enforcement teams were deployed to all of his stops Tuesday as a result of the letter. In Macon, that included a team of dogs, which found a suspicious object inside a vending machine, leading to the evacuation of the airport.
The local sheriff’s office said the incident was called into its 911 center at 8:21 a.m., prompting the dispatch of a bomb unit to the airport. The object turned out not to be a bomb, officials said.
“After the thorough sweep of the airport, and further investigation, no hazardous devices were detected,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Mr. Raffensperger chose to continue the fly-around, which was scheduled to conclude at the Atlanta airport on Tuesday afternoon.
In a stop at the Savannah airport, with as many law enforcement officials and reporters as attendees looking on, the candidate spoke for about 10 minutes and addressed the incident only in response to a reporter’s question.
Asked if the incident strengthened his resolve to continue campaigning, he replied: “Take a look at the last several years. My resolve is already pretty strong.”
Mr. Raffensperger, who has been the secretary of state in Georgia since 2019, rose to prominence after the 2020 presidential election, when he rebuffed pressure from Mr. Trump on a phone call during which the president pressed him to “find” enough votes to reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s narrow victory in the state.
Ever since, Mr. Raffensperger has faced a relentless campaign of harassment and death threats against himself, his staff and his family. His family was forced to relocate temporarily after the 2020 election amid threats, when members of a far-right militia group were spotted outside his house. Months later, Mr. Raffensperger’s wife was still receiving death threats.
In 2022, Mr. Raffensperger ran for re-election and fended off a primary challenge from Representative Jody Hice, whom Mr. Trump endorsed as part of a campaign of political retribution in Georgia that also unsuccessfully sought to force out Gov. Brian Kemp. Mr. Raffensperger’s second term as secretary of state ends in January, and he cannot run again because of term limits.
A lifelong Republican, Mr. Raffensperger announced his candidacy for governor last year, entering a crowded primary field.
F.B.I. agents were aware of the incident, but said it was being handled by the local sheriff’s office, according to an F.B.I. spokesman.
The morning rally resumed after the bomb scare, but it was moved outside the airport.
Devlin Barrett contributed reporting from Washington, Michelle Baruchman from Augusta, Ga, and Johnny Kauffman from Atlanta.
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
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