Texts to Loeffler show Raffensperger's wife blamed senator for post-election death threats
Messages from then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler's phone, sent anonymously to media outlets, indicate threats against Georgia's secretary of state and spouse began within hours of a joint call for his resignation.
By Jayden Sweiler · · Originally reported by FOX 5 Atlanta
A set of text messages tied to the phone of former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler offers a behind-the-scenes look at her clash with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election. Among them is a message in which Raffensperger's wife, Tricia, held Loeffler partly responsible for death threats the couple received.
The texts, covering late 2020 and early 2021, were sent anonymously to the FOX 5 I-Team and to other news outlets across the country.
Voters chose Joe Biden as president in November 2020. His margin in Georgia was extremely narrow, at less than 13,000 votes at the time. As President Donald Trump publicly challenged the results, Loeffler and fellow Georgia Sen. David Perdue issued a joint statement on Nov. 9, 2020, less than a week after Election Day. They said Georgia's elections had been marked by "mismanagement" and that Raffensperger "failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately."
Raffensperger did not resign. Soon after the statement, he spoke with the I-Team and described death threats directed at him and his wife. He shared some of the messages, including: "You better not botch the count your life depends on it," "Your husband deserves to face a firing squad," and "The Raffenspergers should be put on trial for treason and face execution." He did not say at the time exactly when or why the threats began.
"The most troubling thing about it is when threats actually came into my wife's cell phone," Raffensperger told FOX 5 later.
The newly surfaced texts suggest a timeline. They indicate the threats started within hours of the Loeffler and Perdue statement. At 10 p.m. on the night it was released, Tricia Raffensperger sent Loeffler a sharply worded message.
"My family and I am being personally besieged by people threatening our lives because you didn't have the decency or good manners to come and talk to my husband with any questions you may have had," the message read. It described Brad Raffensperger as "an honorable man with integrity to do the right thing."
The message went on: "I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens to any of my family, from my husband, children and grandchildren." It ended with the question, "What kind of person are you that would purposely do this?"
Neither Raffensperger nor Tricia Raffensperger wished to comment on the texts. The I-Team was unable to reach Loeffler or Perdue.
In 2021, Raffensperger described the attacks, counter-attacks and threats aimed at him and others involved in the election process as puzzling. "Sometimes the Democrats are attacking us. This time all they need to do is buy a box of popcorn and watch this fight," he said.
