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WASHINGTON, D.C., January 5, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called out Antifa protestors for gathering in protest outside his residence close the nation’s capital in order to violently persuade him to rethink his objection to the 2020 election results.

Tweeting late Monday night, Hawley wrote that while he was “in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence.”

The protest was organised by ShutDownDC, which describes itself as “an organizing space where individuals and groups can come together to organize direct action in the fight for justice.” The group’s website adds that with regard to the 2020 election, its members were “making plans to rise up to confront the Trump administration’s attacks on democracy.”

In a now deleted tweet, ShutDownDC described their protest as “an hour long vigil,” a “candlelight vigil” outside Hawley’s home in Vienna, Virginia, “to demand that he drop his baseless contestation of the 2020 presidential election results.”

Patrick Young, an organizer of ShutDownDC, justified the protest by claiming that Hawley’s contesting of the electoral college vote was “undemocratic and unacceptable.” Young styles himself as a “organizer, campaigner, trainer and researcher” for hire, and last year, regarding the then-upcoming election, he wrote an inflammatory piece, urging that “those of us who are committed to seeing Donald Trump removed from office should start organizing now to fight back against the Trump administration’s systematic efforts at voter suppression, hit the streets in key states where election outcomes are likely to be contested, and be ready to take bold direct action to bring Washington, DC to a standstill if Trump refuses to concede.”

ShutDownDC’s own Twitter page acknowledged the organization’s presence outside Hawley’s house, but denied his description of threats, claiming they “sang songs, chanted and shared our stories.”

However, conservative news outlet Reagan Battalion rejected this explanation, saying that the protest was “an attempt to terrorize” Hawley’s family, children and neighbors.

Reporting on the incident, the Washington Post characterized ShutDownDC as “peaceful,” with quotes from Young saying that “[this] was a pretty tame and peaceful visit to his house.” Hawley was swift to respond to the article, writing that the piece contained “outright lies,” and that the protestors had actually “screamed through bullhorns, shouted down my wife when she asked you to leave, vandalized property, pounded on our door, and terrorized neighbors.”

The group’s actions are not an isolated incident. Early in December, ShutDownDC took part in leaving body bags outside the homes of GOP Senators Mitch McConnell, James Inhofe, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, in protest over the COVID relief bill. The bags bore the inscription “Trump COVID Death.” Similar scenes were seen in the past few days, as McConnell’s (R-KY) house was vandalized by graffiti, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) house.

Hawley was the first of a number of Senators to announce his intent to challenge the electoral college vote tomorrow. In a statement issued before new year, Hawley noted that he would object during Congress’ certification of the vote, referring to elections done by states in violation of their own laws, as well as the huge influence of Big Tech to swing the vote for Biden.

Led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a group of 11 senators subsequently issued a joint letter explaining that in the face of “unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities” they would vote to “reject the electors from disputed states.”

Sen. David Perdue from Georgia spoke on Fox News to say that he would also object to the certification, but since he would not himself be certified on January 6, he could not do so.

Just yesterday, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) announced that she would join her colleagues’ objections, although in an independent capacity, and would vote to “give President Trump and the American people the fair hearing they deserve.”