Heightened Security, Perimeter Fencing Return to D.C. Amid Election Season Concerns

With the nation so sharply divided politically and many Republicans still disputing Joe Biden’s win four years ago, we’re seeing extra security measures being taken this election season.

Perhaps nowhere are those measures more visible than in our nation’s capital.

8-foot tall, anti-scale, black  perimeter fencing became a common sight in the District a few years ago -- at the White House while the George Floyd protests were going on in the summer of 2020, at the Capitol after the January 6, 2021 riots,, and at the Supreme Court leading up to the Dobbs decision in the spring of 2022.

It’s back.

The fencing is up around the Ellipse, where Tuesday afternoon Kamala Harris supporters were lined up in advance of a speech the former prosecutor has billed as her 'closing argument' to the American people. It’s not a coincidence that Harris was holding the event at the same place where former President Trump rallied his supporters after losing the election four years ago.

"I think it's really powerful to come to the place that people congregated around on January 6,” said Mary Kate Jaworowski, “and show that people still feel passionate about preserving our democracy and that this is at the top of people's minds."

The Harris campaign was estimating 52,000 people would attend Tuesday’s rally, which is about the same size of the crowd for Trump's 'Stop the Steal' rally in 2021 and six times more than the initial estimate provided to the Parks Department.

"You'll notice an enhanced presence, a police presence, across the city," said Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Pamela Smith at a news conference Tuesday. 

Chief Smith said her officers would be working in tandem with the Secret Service and US Park Police Tuesday and are well prepared for the dozens of other First Amendment activities scheduled between Election Day and Inauguration Day. 

"As always, the Metropolitan Police Department supports individuals peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights,” Smith said, “but I want to be very clear, we will not tolerate any violence of any kind."

Chief Smith says about 4,000 officers from other departments across the country will help provide security for the Inauguration, preparation for which has already begun. Viewing stands are being built along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, which is why fencing is now restricting access to Lafayette Park.

And risers are under construction on the west steps of the Capitol, where the next president will be sworn in January 20, 2025.

Chief Smith says they have not identified any credible threats at this point, but are making sure “that we are prepared as we go into the election season, but also as we go into January 6th and as we go into the Inauguration, that we are very well prepared here in the District of Columbia."