Threats against public servants increased over 35 times what they were a decade ago, according to new research
Such violent threats against public servants have increased over the last decade — from just eight stories of such threats recorded in 2015 to 291 recorded in 2025, according to new research. The Public Service Alliance, a nonpartisan network, and the Impact Project, a nonpartisan data and research platform, released the dataset showing that escalation on Tuesday.
An associated map lets viewers see incidents of public sector workers being harassed, stalked, doxxed, physically attacked and more. Public servants across the levels of government are being targeted, with elected officials, judges, election workers and law enforcement and military officials among those receiving the most threats, according to the dataset.
“We're seeing not only an increase in volume, but also an expansion in who's being targeted," Abby André, executive director and co-founder of The Impact Project, said in a statement. "A decade ago, threats were concentrated at the federal level. Today, school board members, county clerks, and even mail carriers face similar dangers.”
Federal officials made up half of the incidents recorded since 2015 in the dataset; local employees, meanwhile, made up roughly one-third.
These threats can have profound effects. In some cases, they’ve driven officials out of their jobs entirely, taking their knowledge with them and leaving less experienced workers in charge of running elections, for example.
President Donald Trump and others in his administration have largely taken an antagonistic stance when speaking about federal employees, whom Trump has called “crooked” and “dishonest.” Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, has previously said he planned to put federal workers “in trauma” as “they are increasingly viewed as villains.”
Some federal employees have been targeted online because of the type of work they do.
Since last fall, at least 175 federal employees have been named online in “watchlists” with their photos and personal details published by the right-wing American Accountability Foundation, which has been supported by the Heritage Foundation.
That has led some of those so-called "subversive, leftist bureaucrats” working on immigration issues or diversity issues to avoid leaving their homes, experience depression and more in the face of harassment.
“This jeopardizes our government’s ability to deliver for the American people and contradicts American values," Isabella Ulloa, PSA founder and CEO, said of the uptick in violence.
PSA curates free legal, privacy, security, career and other resources and discounts for public servants to deal with the threats they face.
The latest research is largely based on media reporting, as well as data from other studies.
The map likely underrepresents the issue, the two nonprofits say, given that not all instances of violent threats to public servants are reported. They want to update the map moving forward, adding data on responses to such threats.
Threats against public officials started spiking after the 2016 presidential election, alongside growing polarization, according to research published last year.
Of the offenders that were ideologically motivated, the majority were anti-government violent extremists, racially motivated violent extremists, or both. As far as who was targeted, the 2024 study found that law enforcement or military officials and elected or election officials were most commonly targeted with threats of violence.
“The threats we’re tracking reflect declining levels of confidence in some of our most important social institutions and growing political divisions across society,” Paul Simi, a report co-author and national expert on extremist groups and political extremism, said in a comment last year.
“It is critical for people of goodwill who believe in democratic processes to find ways of supporting public officials and the systems they represent,” he added.
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