Republican's hanging threats spark outrage: 'Completely unacceptable'

GOP gubernatorial candidate repeatedly threatens to hang elected officials for ‘treason’

by Katherine Dailey, Michigan Advance
February 16, 2026

Anthony Hudson, a Genesee County truck driver running for the Republican nomination for governor, has made a habit of threatening elected officials with hanging for “treason,” making such threats at least twice since the start of 2026.

On Jan. 4, in a video posted to Hudson’s social media, he says, “It’s time to get the rope” — while holding a large loop of rope around his arm — as a call to action to “Michiganians and patriots” against politicians who he alleges received kickbacks from former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, including Michigan’s U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, both Democrats.

“My hope is that every one of them will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and may their names forever live in shame for their treason,” he says in the video.

Less than a month later, on Feb. 1, in a Mason City Council meeting, speaking in opposition to data center development, Hudson again threatened elected officials — this time local government officials — with hanging.

“You guys never listen, and that’s the problem. These people voted you into office so that you could be their voice in government,” he said. “When you go against that voice, you commit what we call treason. The punishment for treason is public hanging. So, I suggest you start listening.”

Hudson’s statements were strongly condemned by the state Democratic party, who also urged the Michigan Republican Party and the other Republican candidates for governor to similarly condemn the threats.

“Political violence is completely unacceptable, and this kind of dangerous, hateful extremism has no place in our state and country. Anthony Hudson must immediately retract these comments and issue an apology,” Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman wrote in a statement.

The Michigan Republican Party did not respond to a request for a response.

But Hudson doubled down when asked to comment on his statements.

“Know the law and the consequences! I didn’t write the law, as governor I will enforce the law. Educating someone about the law and what the consequences are is not threatening anyone,” he wrote in an email to the Michigan Advance. “Don’t come at me for holding them accountable and saying the worst part out loud.”

Hudson’s comments are similar to those of President Donald Trump, who has accused six elected Democrats, including Slotkin, of committing treason after they recorded a video reminding military members that they did not have to follow illegal orders.

In reaction to the video, Trump called it “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS” later saying it was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: [email protected].