U.S. Congressional GOP candidate Mia Love who is currently the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, received racist mail at her office on Tuesday, the Deseret News reports.
Saratoga Springs police are investigating the mailing.
City Manager Mark Christensen describe the contents of the envelop as “disturbing” and “pretty freaky stuff” but stopped short of calling it a security risk. “I couldn’t tell if it was threatening or anything. It kind of shocked me, what I saw,” he told the Desseret News.
The mailing included “a picture of Love and her husband, Jason, and a hooded Ku Klux Klan character. There also were pictures of aborted fetuses, the Deseret News quoted Christensen as saying.
Saratoga Springs Police Chief Gary Hicken has assigned an officer to investigate the mailing. “I can say it’s racial in nature but I can’t tell you it’s criminal in nature,” he said.
The city has received mailed aimed at Love in the past, but this time the contents of the latest mailing was enough to involve police. Love did not review all of the contents in the envelope. But she took a defiant tone when asked about the incident.
“I want you to know, I want everyone to know I am comfortable in my skin. I’m comfortable and proud of my heritage. I’m proud of who I am. I know where I’m going and I know what we need to do to get this country back in order again. There isn’t anything that anyone can send me that will distract me from that so they can bring it,” she said.
The Deseret News reports that Love feels she was targeted because her candidacy poses a threat to President Barack Obama’s policies.
“I knew that people would come after me,” Love said. “I knew that people would try to change and distort information so I’m going to focus on things that are really important.”
Love is currently in a tight battled to unseat Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson in Utah’s new 4th Congressional District. She was featured as one of the rising Black GOP stars at this year’s National Republican Convention in Tampa, Fla.