Senator Whose Fairfax Home Targeted Berates ‘Antifa Scumbags’

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A group of 12 activists from Shutdown DC is being characterized by “Antifa scumbags” by Missouri lawmaker Josh Hawley, who claimed on social media that the group threatened his wife and newborn daughter earlier this week.

Shutdown DC said that it had around a dozen activist outside the Fairfax County home of Hawley (R-Mo) during an hour-long vigil to demand that Hawley drop his “baseless contestation of the 2020 presidential election results". Hawley was the first of 12 Republican senators to announce they would contest the Electoral College results when they are certified in Washington on Wednesday in the final step toward Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump becoming official.

On Monday night night, activists from the group lit candles and delivered a copy of the U.S. Constitution to Hawley’s door at his Fairfax County residence, the group said in a news release. The group chanted “Shame! Shame on Hawley” and “Protect democracy from the GOP”.

Police arrived at 7:45 p.m. Monday night as the group also read messages from voters in states targeted by Hawley and other lawmakers who maintain that the election in those states was not held fairly.

"We came to let Hawley know that his actions are undemocratic and unacceptable," ShutDownDC activist Patrick Young said in the release. "Voters decided who they wanted to be president and now Hawley is trying to silence their voices, even after Republican election officials certified the vote counts. And let's not forget that the bulk of the votes they would throw out come from Black and brown voters. This is an attempted coup waged by silencing the voices of people of color."

While the group maintained that its vigil outside of Hawley’s home was peaceful, the Missouri senator said the group “screamed threats, vandalized and tried to pound open our door.”

“Let me be clear: I will not be threatened by leftwing violence,” Hawley tweeted Monday night.

Hawley also took exception to a Washington Post story that appeared Tuesday morning and said the newspaper “printed outright lies” in its coverage of Shutdown DC’s presence outside his house. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Hawley said the group describes itself as “sweet little angels.”

The Post reported and Associated Press reported that police said they found no evidence the the vigil was not peaceful and said that as of Tuesday night, Vienna police had not received a formal complaint from the Hawley's about what happened outside their home. A Vienna police officer told the AP that officers noticed three potential violations and advised protesters of the possible violations and said that activists left within 10 minutes of being warned.

Still, Hawley took exception to the group's behavior.

“BS,” Hawley wrote on Twitter. “You screamed through bullhorns, shouted down my wife she asked you to leave, vandalized property, pounded on our door and terrorized neighbors.

He added: “And you didn’t have the guts to do it daylight, but only under the cover of darkness so you could hide. You’re scum and we won’t be intimidated.”