Washington representative Matt Shea (R) is facing renewed calls for his resignation from Republican and Democratic lawmakers amid allegations that Shea discussed spying on progressives in the state. Private investigators hired by the Democrat-dominated Legislature are looking to see whether Shea and three others discussed spying on liberals in Spokane, a progressive city in conservative eastern Washington. Shea reportedly named potential targets for surveillance, including a college professor and an organizer for the liberal group Indivisible. According to Signal encrypted chat messages published last month in The Guardian, one of Shea’s co-conspirators suggested “hoisting communists up flag poles.”

A report by The Spokesman-Review, citing emails, showed that Shea compiled dossiers on liberal City Council members from Spokane, looked into buying GPS trackers, and wanted to “turn back the tide” of Islam in the United States. Shea lost a leadership position in the state House last year after admitting he distributed a manifesto that called for killing non-Christian males that don’t follow biblical law.