Social media death threat circulates after controversial NC Senate vote
North Carolina senators saw a death threat on social media after a controversial vote Wednesday on a bill that would ban shrimp trawling in the state’s sounds.
The ban was added to a fishing bill that had already passed the House, and coastal Republicans argued it would cost many people’s jobs.
Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
Four Republicans representing coastal districts, including Sen. Bobby Hanig of Currituck County, voted against the bill Wednesday, with all other Republicans, and all Democrats, voting in favor of House Bill 442.
A death threat circulated on social media after the vote.
The News & Observer obtained screen shots of since-deleted Facebook posts that said lawmakers deserve to die and that what happened to Melissa and John Hortman in Minnesota can happen in North Carolina.
One of the posts referenced the assassination of Hortman, a Minnesota lawmaker, and killing of her husband.
The N&O wasn’t able to reach the person whose account appears to have posted the threat on Thursday, and is not naming him because it was not immediately able to verify that the screen grabs were from his account.
The second of two required votes in the Senate came Thursday and the bill moved ahead, with some senators absent a day after the first vote on the bill. Both Republican Senate leader Phil Berger and several Democrats said they think the ban is the right policy decision.
After the vote, Berger also addressed the social media threats.
“I just don’t want to talk about any law enforcement response to that,” he said.
“It’s the sort of thing that, given what we’ve seen over the past week or so, and given that the post I saw specifically referenced that incident, it’s not something that we take lightly, and it’s something that is an unfortunate consequence of the way people feel free to speak when they can be either anonymous or semi anonymous on social media,” Berger said.
Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch was unaware of the social media threats over the shrimp bill. She said that after the Minnesota assassination and shootings that she and others spoke with the State Capitol Police, Department of Public Safety Secretary Eddie Buffaloe and local law enforcement.
“I have local law enforcement coming and actually providing me with more additional advice with regards to screening and protection,” Batch said, adding that she has had a stalker for many years.
“We take our public oath to do good, and it’s really unfortunate that people are not able to modulate or regulate their own emotions, and that they go to the point of actually threatening our lives,” Batch said about threats.
“Not a single one of us in this chamber should be in that position. But we also know that the good that can come from serving outweighs, oftentimes, the risk to ourselves and to our families,” she said.
People who have attempted to bring guns into the Legislative Building have been arrested, including in an incident in May.
Today’s newsletter was by Dawn Vaughan and Jordan Schrader.
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This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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