LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet told 6 News that for the last seven months, she has been followed by a man she doesn’t know.
The senator said he follows her around with a camera and yells at her while she’s at work and even outside of restaurants when she’s with her children.
“It’s continuous and it’s every day and frankly I just got fed up,” Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet said.
Fed up, the Democratic senator says after months of being followed around by a man who has been persistent in his efforts to express his opposition to her.
“About June of last year, I started having this man following me. He’d show up in different places outside restaurants, he’d be standing by my car, and he would show up at my campaign events and always dressed the same way completely in black with a camera. He would either yell a comment at me or ask a question all of it on the typical Republican flash points,” McDonald Rivet said.
The senator said it’s gotten so bad that she’s had to beef up security.
“I knew that was going to happen. It’s fairly common in campaigns. They call these folks trackers. What I didn’t expect is that it didn’t end when the campaign ended. Sergeants have to escort me from my office over to the state Capitol,” she said.
Eventually, she got fed up and took a picture of the man and posted it on her Twitter page.
“It wasn’t necessarily to expose this specific guy it was to make sure that people understand how toxic our political climate has gotten,” McDonald Rivet said.
The senator said her position gives no one the right to harass her and that she won’t let these tactics get in her way.
“I will not stand down, I will not back away from my agenda.”
The senator said Thursday was the first day she didn’t see the man outside her window waiting for her and that she hopes it stays that way.
