Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., was attacked Thursday morning in the elevator of her Washington, D.C., apartment building. Her office said in a statement: “Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay.” Chief of staff Nick Coe said the assailant then fled, and there was no evidence the attack was politically motivated.
A Metropolitan Police Department report detailing the attack said that Craig first spotted the suspect in her building’s lobby, “acting erratic as if he was under the influence of an unknown substance.” The suspect then entered the elevator with Craig and began doing pushups before punching her in the chin and grabbing her neck, police said. According to the police report, Craig threw her cup of hot coffee at him, after which he escaped. In a statement later Thursday, the U.S. Capitol Police said it is also investigating the attack, but that “there is no indication that the congresswoman was targeted because of her position.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Thursday that his caucus was horrified by the attack on Craig. “We are all very grateful that she is safe and recovering, but appalled that this terrifying assault took place,” adding that he asked the House Sergeant at Arms and the U.S. Capitol Police to “work with Angie, [her wife] Cheryl [Greene] and their sons to ensure that Angie and her family are safe while in our nation’s capital and at home in Minnesota.”
Craig was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 after defeating Republican Rep. Jason Lewis. She is the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from Minnesota; and in the 118th Congress, she serves as a co-chairwoman of the Congressional Equality Caucus.
Editorial credit: Joe Ferrer / Shutterstock.com