A San Antonio man is facing a felony charge after Texas troopers say he posted a string of online threats against two Republican state lawmakers, invoking the racist Great Replacement conspiracy theory and suggesting one of them should die. Jason Shawn Riggs was taken into custody in Guadalupe County on an unrelated warrant before investigators connected him to threatening posts aimed at state Reps. Jeff Leach and Lacey Hull.
Jason Shawn Riggs was initially picked up on September 15, 2026, by Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division troopers on an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant tied to a felony theft charge, according to Current Revolt, which first reported the allegations against him. He was booked into the Guadalupe County Jail, where troopers say they discovered he was also wanted in Collin County on a terroristic threat charge stemming from social media posts, according to San Antonio Current. That additional charge was then filed against him.
Per a DPS statement cited by the outlet, Riggs allegedly used an account on the social media platform X to threaten Rep. Jeff Leach and Rep. Lacey Hull. One post attributed to Riggs accused Leach of facilitating the Great Replacement and stated that chances are very high that Leach will die the same day as Trump, per the report. Another post allegedly accused Hull of wanting to destroy America by flooding it with legal aliens from black and brown countries, and a further post declared that it is time for white people to work to destroy Lacey Hull's family.
An Account With an Unusual History
Investigators reviewing the account's history found it had previously operated as an adult footwear fetish page before allegedly being used to target public officials and their families, the same account also allegedly targeted a Florida congressional candidate, Mark Davis, in addition to Leach and Hull. The Great Replacement is a racist conspiracy theory popular on the far right that posits lawmakers are intentionally replacing white Americans with immigrants, according to the same account of the allegations.
Leach, a Republican from Plano first elected in 2012, represents House District 67 in Collin County and chairs the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, according to the Texas House of Representatives. Hull, a Republican from Houston, was also targeted in the alleged posts.
Threats Followed a Viral, Widely Condemned Post
Riggs' arrest came days after Republican Railroad Commission candidate Bo French posted a photo of South Asian University of Texas students celebrating a football victory over Ohio State, according to the seed reporting. French, who wrote in the viral September 13, 2026 post that the problem was worse than imagined, is a former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party who won the GOP primary runoff for the Railroad Commission seat in May 2026, according to San Antonio Current's separate reporting on the race.
The post drew widespread condemnation from top state GOP leaders, including former House Speaker Dade Phelan, who publicly denounced it as racist and divisive, according to The Texas Observer. The Railroad Commission that French is running for oversees Texas's multi-billion dollar oil and gas sector.
A Theory With a Violent History
The Great Replacement theory has a documented history of real-world violence. It was cited in the manifesto of the gunman who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, an attack that prompted federal hate-crime and weapons charges, according to The Texas Tribune.
Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, have repeatedly classified racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism as the deadliest domestic terrorism threat in the country.
How the Charge Could Play Out
Riggs faces a terroristic-threat charge arising from allegations about his online posts.
DPS Criminal Investigations Division troopers discovered the Collin County warrant during Riggs' booking in Guadalupe County.
Key questions remain unanswered, including the specific evidentiary findings laid out in the Collin County arrest affidavit, whether federal authorities will open a parallel investigation into the online threats, and how Riggs' court proceedings will unfold across both Guadalupe and Collin counties.
