Democrat Senate Candidate Arrested For Threatening Trump’s Life
An Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, man running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate faces accusations of making threats to kill President Donald Trump and a member of Congress. An FBI spokesperson confirmed that Raymond Chandler was arrested Friday morning by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in Pittsburgh, along with the United States Secret Service, WPXI reported.
Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, obtained by local media, outline the alleged threatening statements authorities say Chandler made.
According to the affidavit, Chandler reportedly left an unidentified member of Congress a voicemail on April 18, during which he said he asked the person to think about how 1,000 people would “pull you out of your house and they slit your throat and they slit your daughter’s throat and they slit everyone’s throat.”
The affidavit also said he followed that up by stating this must happen because “wealth concentration has gotten so bad in this country.”
The filing also notes that on April 29, Chandler left another voicemail to an unidentified member of Congress, saying, “I want you to put that firearm to the President’s head, and I want you to pull the trigger and I want you to kill him.” He then said that President Trump is “a liar among all liars. He’s a great deceiver. He’s the antichrist.”
The congressmember’s representatives eventually reached out to authorities after Chandler’s voicemails became increasingly violent rhetoric aimed at Trump, members of Congress, and ICE.
Just hours before his arrest, Chandler posted a YouTube video as part of his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania. In the video, titled “It’s Time to Tax the Billionaires,” he announced his intention to challenge Senator John Fetterman in the 2028 election.
His campaign website outlines a range of progressive priorities, including taxing billionaires, expanding social programs, regulating Big Tech, and abolishing ICE—positions that are widely accepted within the Democrat Party.
A week ago, the suspect charged in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting made his initial appearance in federal court, where he was formally advised of the charges filed by prosecutors.
Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, is accused of entering the Washington Hilton while armed with multiple weapons and attempting to reach the ballroom where President Trump was attending the dinner alongside Cabinet officials and journalists Saturday night.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Allen appeared in court wearing a blue jail uniform and faces charges including attempted assassination of the President of the United States, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and transporting a firearm across state lines, Fox News reported.
Allen spoke softly during his court appearance. As he was led into the courtroom by marshals, he scanned the public gallery, which included over 40 members of the press and general public. He nodded as Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh explained various aspects of the proceedings.
“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine told the court. “We are asking the court to preventatively detain Mr. Allen.”
“Cole Allen’s journey of accountability in the criminal justice system starts today,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a press conference Monday afternoon, adding, “There will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold.”
“But make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the President of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was,” Pirro continued. “And that intent was to bring down as many of the high ranking Cabinet officials as he could. This is the kind of situation that we cannot tolerate.”
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
