Elected officials in McLean County say the lawmaker shootings in Minnesota are frightening – and that they’ve been on the receiving end of violent rhetoric themselves.
Since the Minnesota killings, County Board member Corey Beirne said he’s been wondering how safe he should feel and what’s the line between cowardly internet attacks and a real physical threat.
One recent example: Earlier this year Beirne posted to Facebook about immigration enforcement in McLean County schools. Beirne is a Unit 5 teacher.
“That exploded. That blew up,” he said. “There were several individuals who threatened to – I’m vision-impaired, I only have one functioning eye – take my other eye. To hang me. To ‘take Beirne to the bay.’ There were a number of death threats by a number of individuals. One particular individual posted no less than 213 times on my campaign [Facebook] page. He was reaching out to school administrators, the parents of my students, with various accusations and threats.”
“It’s too much to count. It's too much to keep track of. And that’s just within the past 6 months,” Beirne said.
He’s not alone. A Princeton University study found around 17% of local elected officials nationwide reported being threatened last year. Around 36% were harassed. The researchers found a potential chilling effect, with officials reporting particularly high rates of decreased willingness to engage in activities like posting on social media and working on controversial topics.
It’s even worse for women officials, the Princeton study found.
Chemberly Harris served for eight years on the Normal Town Council, until April. She said it’s “very alarming” to her that we’re losing the ability to disagree agreeably. She’s concerned about the future.
Harris said she received jolting, demeaning, and degrading messages from the public when she served on the council. The most unnerving moment came when she put a political sign in her front yard, and somebody stood outside her home screaming and yelling about it.
“Unfortunately, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm hoping that we come to a turning point to see our society as being better than this,” Harris said. “We have been better than this, where we're not allowing our emotions to lead us to misguided behaviors. But I hope we can regain emotional intelligence about how we navigate something so personal to each of us.”
Social media makes everyone – including elected officials – an easily reachable target from keyboard warriors who can stay largely anonymous.
“When I first got into [office], I would see things, and I would let it bother me,” Harris said. “And I was like, OK, I have to come away from that. And I think people forget we are human beings. I have feelings, I have emotions, and I do have people who love me and who will support me and protect me. I think that is being so lost in all of this these days.”
National forces trickle down
President Trump’s emergence as a national force in politics has also raised the temperature of political discourse and normalized name-calling, personal attacks and even threats. Trump himself was the target of a near-miss assassination attempt in Pennsylvania during the 2024 campaign.
Adam Kinzinger is one of the most famous political figures to emerge from Bloomington-Normal. The former Illinois State University student served on the McLean County Board before later being elected to the U.S. House. He was one of only two Republicans to serve on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack.
Kinzinger told WGLT in 2023 that he’d moved to Texas with his wife and child in part because his home address in Illinois was being circulated as he faced death threats after his break with Trump.
“There could easily be a day when I come back to Illinois. But right now, we’re just focusing on raising the kid and taking a deep breath and getting away from the death threats for a little bit,” Kinzinger said.
Unit 5 school board member Amy Roser said most of her interactions with constituents are quite civil. But she said discourse grew more intense during COVID, when public debate about mask mandates and remote learning packed school board meetings across the country.
“There were certainly times where I was scared,” Roser said. “That’s a natural response.”
She took comfort in what she described as “exhaustive” safety planning by Unit 5 around public meetings, including exit plans and even pausing meetings to let the temperature cool.
Roser said she’s worried this heightened political rhetoric – and now actual political violence – may stop good people from running for local elected office. That’s one reason why voters in McLean County see so many uncontested races on their ballot. Unit 5, for example, didn’t have any contested races in April’s election. Neither did District 87, or the Normal Town Council. Three of five Bloomington City Council seats were uncontested.
Yet Roser stressed that public officials need to respect and value everyone’s opinion – that public participation is critical for democracy.
“Absolutely, you need to continue to voice that. I'd say, though, please remember that I'm your neighbor. I’m a mom. And so our kids could be friends, and that's happened, where our kids are friends, and yet we're on different perspectives, or someone doesn't agree with actions that the board took,” Roser said. “And [to] know that I'm still a nice and kind human who wants the best for everybody, and I'm going to respect that, and I hope that that you will too.”
Beirne, the County Board member, said First Amendment rights to speak and assemble freely are “sacrosanct.”
“It's part of what makes us great. It does allow thoughtful conversation. It creates good policy,” he said. “We do need to get back to the point where we can disagree and still look out for each other. The community has rejected extremism in the past, but it's still a loud voice.”
