Kim Weaver, a Democrat who sought to unseat Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), announced Saturday that she is dropping her bid after being subjected to “alarming acts of intimidation, including death threats.”
“While some may say enduring threats are just a part of running for office, my personal safety has increasingly become a concern,” she wrote.
King, who regularly stokes controversy with offensive rhetoric, responded by claiming that the threats were probably “a fabrication.”
King’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Weaver, who also ran against King last year in an overwhelmingly GOP district, verified Saturday’s Facebook post to the Sioux City Journal. She told the Des Moines Register that she had received threats via phone and email, and that someone had placed a “for sale” sign in her yard.
“To me, that sent a message that ‘we want you out of here,’” she said.
Neither Weaver nor her campaign immediately returned a request for comment from HuffPost.
Weaver, who had made health care a major issue in her campaign, also referenced the House GOP bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cited her own access to health insurance as a concern. She is an official at Iowa’s Department of Aging, and wrote that leaving her post to focus on campaigning would be a risk.
“With recent legislation on health insurance, I must admit that the possibility of seeking a new job after the election exposes too much of a risk for me in not being able to secure health insurance,” she wrote.
Weaver also claimed to the Des Moines Register that state legislators had cut her department’s budget as “punishment” for her campaign against King and said she would consider taking a “voluntary layoff” if necessary.
Weaver, who had been the only Democratic candidate in the race thus far, said in her post that she would donate her campaign money to support other efforts against King.
“We’ve started a significant movement in this district, and it’s important to see that progress continue,” she wrote. “I’ve said from the beginning that this isn’t about me — it’s about unseating Steve King and gaining real representation for the 4th District of Iowa.”
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