Ohio Man Jailed for Death Threats to Arizona’s Top Election Official

An Ohio man who in 2022 threatened to kill Katie Hobbs, now Arizona’s governor but then its secretary of state, was sentenced on Monday to two and a half years behind bars, a hefty sentence that comes amid a federal crackdown on election-related threats.

Joshua Russell, 46, of Bucyrus, Ohio, acknowledged leaving three voicemails with Hobbs’ office accusing her of fraud at the height of election season. “America’s coming for you, and you will pay with your life, you communist [expletive] traitor [expletive],” he said in the first message, according to a Department of Justice news release.

In another, sent three months later, Russell warned Hobbs, “A war is coming for you. The entire nation is coming for you. And we will stop, at no end, until you are in the ground. You’re a traitor to this nation. You’re a [expletive] piece of [expletive] communist, and you just signed your own death warrant. Get your affairs in order, cause, your days are very short.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.