Black Republican Told Someone's at Her House Ready to Kill Her Parents

Lavern Spicer, a Republican congressional candidate running in Florida's 24th District, received a message from a user on X (formerly Twitter) telling her that the person was trying to kill her parents.

Spicer, who is Black, got the message from a verified X user who addressed her using a racial slur and then wrote, "I'm at your parents house preparing to kill them." She shared a screenshot of the message on Wednesday and called for the social media network to alert the authorities.

"X has the credit card information for this account since it has a Blue check," she tweeted. "This should be reported to law enforcement immediately as they are threatening to kill my parents. This is a damn disgrace and this is [what happens when you are] a conservative Black woman speaking the truth!"

As of Wednesday afternoon, she had yet to receive a response from X, Spicer told Newsweek. She called the incident "horrible" and said she was "appalled" by the message.

"As a Black Republican, this is something I've become accustomed to and it is shameful," she said. "Luckily, I have been in contact with my parents and they are safe and sound. This was just a troll message from a misguided racist individual who needs to find Jesus and embrace him."

Spicer, who is running to unseat Democratic Representative Frederica Wilson, will face off against two other Republican candidates in Florida's August 20 primary. She previously ran against Wilson in 2020, losing with only 20 percent of the vote. Wilson, who has been a member of Congress since 2011, was reelected with 75 percent of the vote. Spicer ran again in 2022 but lost in the primaries to Jesus Navarro, who is also running for the GOP nomination in 2024.

Although Spicer implored X to get to the bottom of the disturbing message, she said she's received fewer threats since Elon Musk took over the platform.

"Before Elon Musk took over Twitter, I got inboxes every day threatening my life, calling me a coon, a n****** and all kinds of death threats," Spicer told Newsweek. "Elon has been a godsend in getting these threats to a minimum and suspending the accounts responsible."

The message that Spicer received appeared to come from an account with the handle @HuTheSaint and whose bio reads, "First year medical student. Truth seeker." In the comments to Spicer's tweets, other users urged her to contact local law enforcement and open an investigation.

"File with local LE immediately," one user told her. "They can issue a preservation order to X and request subscriber info. Once they have the subscriber info, they can get a search warrant based on the threat and go after him."

"This person needs a visit from law enforcement!" another said.

Threats against political figures have soared in recent years. Over the holidays, multiple lawmakers, including Florida Senator Rick Scott, New York Representative Brandon Williams and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, were targeted in swatting incidents, which involve fake emergency calls that often dispatch SWAT teams to supposedly violent situations.

"I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here," Greene tweeted on Christmas Day. "My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn't have to deal with this. I appreciate them so much and my family and I are in joyous spirits celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus Christ!"

Last month, House Democrats launched a task force on lawmaker security in response to the disturbing incidents some have faced after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Scott and Greene, who are both Republican, have vowed to pursue legislative action to address swatting incidents and "guarantee justice" for those who are targeted by such efforts.