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A Virginia state delegate who made waves together with her upset victory in a deep-blue district confronted a reputable demise risk on Thursday.
The Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Workplace swiftly arrested a suspect accused of texting a marketing campaign official with threats to kill Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg.
A Dinwiddie officer informed the Virginia Mercury that suspect Michael Ray Strawmeyer, 33, of DeWitt, Virginia, was in custody by Thursday night. He’s at present being held on the Meherrin River correctional facility close to South Hill.
The risk to Taylor’s life follows a rise in politically-charged violence, together with the latest homicide of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and lethal assaults on Homeland Safety services.
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Virginia Delegate Kim Taylor and her husband Butch’s $600 bid at this native occasion scored them a wood U.S. flag crafted by Floyd Hemesath of Disputanta, Va. (Kristi Okay. Higgins/Progress-Index by way of IMAGN)
“I’m protected and doing properly,” Taylor stated late Thursday. “Grateful for legislation enforcement’s swift motion.”
Marketing campaign spokesperson Jacklyn Washington added that “no risk will distract her from the work she was elected to do.”
“Earlier right this moment, delegate Kim Taylor acquired a politically motivated demise risk by textual content message to her marketing campaign. Our marketing campaign takes each risk significantly and this was no exception,” Washington stated.
A supply accustomed to the state of affairs informed Fox Information Digital the suspect claimed Taylor was “ruining the nation” whereas additionally showing to reference Republicans writ-large.
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Virginia officers from each side of the aisle got here out in condemnation of the risk:
“Political violence is rarely the reply. Thanks to our legislation enforcement officers to your fast motion and assist for Kim Taylor,” stated Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor.
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger – the Democratic nominee – added that she was “horrified to listen to in regards to the demise risk made in opposition to Delegate Kim Taylor.”
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“I’m relieved to listen to that the suspect is now in custody,” she added on social media. “I’m grateful for our native legislation enforcement who labored swiftly on this case.”
Taylor, an auto physique store proprietor, shocked the state when she defeated now-Sen. Laschrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, by about 500 votes in 2021. She was reelected in 2023 by a fair narrower 53-vote margin over Kimberly Pope Adams.
Taylor is as soon as once more operating for reelection within the deep blue metropolis that sits 15 miles south of Richmond and 60 miles north of Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
Throughout her tenure, Taylor has spearheaded anti-human trafficking payments, efforts to slash crimson tape and was one among 5 Republicans to cross the aisle on same-sex marriage laws.
