Republican leader in Montgomery County swatted after publicly endorsing Kamala Harris

UPPER MERION, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Republican leader in Montgomery County is facing backlash for publicly supporting Kamala Harris for president instead of Donald Trump.

Matt McCaffery now believes his controversial endorsement led to him being targeted in a swatting incident on Friday.

Swatting is described as an incident where someone reports a fabricated emergency to draw a large law enforcement presence to a specific address.

"It's midnight and somebody's pounding on my door, what the heck could this be?" McCaffery recalled. "Me and my wife met at the top of the stairs and I was like, 'I think we're being swatted.'"

Home surveillance video showed McCaffery surrendering to Upper Merion police officers with guns on his porch Friday night.

Someone had reported a hostage situation at his home, which was determined to be unfounded. Police are still investigating who submitted the false information.

Upper Merion police released the following statement on the incident:

"We did receive information about a possible hostage situation at the home of Mr. McCaffery. Our officers responded and they found no issues at the location. It is an active investigation and we will not speculate on motive."

McCaffery told Action News that he believes it was politically motivated.

"There's no doubt in my mind. Apparently, I ruffled somebody's feathers somewhere and I hope that the perpetrators are caught," he said.

McCaffery, who voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, said the swatting call came just a few hours after he'd been interviewed on CNN.

During the interview, he discussed his reasons for supporting Harris as president.

"When I became a committee person in 2022, my goal was to move us away from that, move us away from the Trump chaos," McCaffery explained.

He was the subject of a disciplinary hearing Monday night by the Montgomery County GOP. On Tuesday, he found out that he was removed.

"The Committee felt this to be a very straightforward case. Your very public and continuous disparaging remarks against President Donald J. Trump and endorsement of Kamala Harris is in clear violation of MCRC's bylaws," party chair Christian Nascimento wrote in the letter addressed to McCaffery.

"I believe in what I believe and I still want to help out the Republican Party, but me and the Republican Party have a big issue and the big issue is the person at the top of the ticket," McCaffery told Action News.