Keep political violence off our doorsteps

OPINION:

One year ago this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro awoke to flames engulfing his residence in an attempted arson murder. A few months later, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated at their home. Not long after that, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking on a college campus in Utah.

Across the country, threats against elected officials and other politically engaged Americans are on the rise. The violence is not confined to the public square. It has followed people to their doorsteps, upending expectations of safety and turning family homes into crime scenes.

In response to rising violence, numerous states have removed elected officials’ home addresses from government websites. At the same time, however, Americans who make modest donations to candidates or causes have their names, home addresses and employers published online for anyone to access — including those who wish them harm.

The problem is caused by outdated laws. In the 1970s, accessing a political donor’s address meant driving to a government office and filling out paperwork. Those natural barriers protected privacy while maintaining transparency. In 2026, it takes three seconds and a smartphone. Technology has transformed campaign finance disclosure laws into tools for targeting and intimidation.

We know that political violence is not a threat only to elected officials. After the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, more than 100 pro-life pregnancy centers and churches were firebombed and vandalized. Political party offices have also been targets of arson attacks.

A 2024 FBI and Department of Homeland Security bulletin warned that domestic extremists threaten election workers, party representatives, campaign staff and anyone else perceived as a political opponent.

When ordinary citizens reasonably fear that donating to a candidate or cause could bring danger to their doorsteps, democracy cannot function.

Fortunately, the solution is straightforward: Amend the law to redact home addresses and employer information from public databases that track campaign donations.

Protecting donors at their homes and workplaces is not anti-transparency. The public can still see who is donating and from where, just without creating road maps to donors’ front doors.

Many states already protect the home addresses of judges, police officers and others whose occupations present security threats. As political violence rises, the calculus for disclosing donors’ personal details must change.

The policy already has bipartisan support. Red Texas and blue California both require redaction of donors’ street names and numbers when records are posted online. West Virginia and Utah enacted reforms this year to redact that same information in their records.

The bipartisan Federal Election Commission has unanimously recommended that Congress enact similar federal reforms. FEC Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum, a Democratic appointee, urged Congress to “eliminate the public disclosure of contributors’ street names and street numbers.”

Many states expose donors at thresholds as low as $20 or $50. Federally, the threshold is $200, but it can drop to $1 when donating through popular online platforms such as ActBlue or WinRed. The result is that millions of Americans become unwitting targets for extremists just for chipping in a little support to a campaign.

Political leaders bear a responsibility to take the rise in political violence seriously and respond with concrete action. Redacting donor addresses is a constitutionally sound, commonsense measure that can be enacted immediately to give Americans a baseline level of privacy protection when supporting campaigns.

The choice before us is clear. We can continue with a disclosure system designed for the 1970s, or we can modernize our laws to reflect digital realities. We can wait until more Americans are killed for their political activities, or we can act now to restore safety and sanity.

Democracy depends on civic participation. Participation depends on security. Protecting donors’ home addresses is a simple first step.

• Heather Lauer is the CEO of People United for Privacy Foundation, a nonprofit that defends the First Amendment rights of all Americans, regardless of their beliefs, to come together in support of their shared values.