There were other comments thanking him for his bravery, but after a while, he stopped scrolling. He stopped reading Facebook. He stopped reading Twitter. He started taking long walks around his old neighborhood, going step by step through the progression of all that had happened.
“I wanted to be the voice of reason against fear. I wanted to draw attention to big issues in the district,” he said during a walk one afternoon, thinking back to the beginning.
“My opponent, unfortunately, embraced QAnon beliefs. I saw her disgusting comments. I thought, ‘She is basically talking like a terrorist,’ ” Kevin said.
“When I had to do that statement, I was scared,” he said. “I’m being told I need to make a direct attack on groups who respond to people with violence. Who glorify violence.”
“My staff had monitored backchannels and seen where Q people were making threats, and we talked about what to do about death threats,” he said.
“I felt out of control. I had no control. I felt unreal. I didn’t know what to do with myself in the quiet. I felt uneasy. I felt I was on the rails and floating through,” he said.
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