A Worcester councilwoman intervened during an ICE arrest. Then she faced the voters.

"The encounter in May - a chaotic confrontation among residents, city police officers and federal immigration agents - had grabbed national attention after videos of it went viral. Haxhiaj had placed herself in the middle of it, standing between the police and an immigrant family. Six months later, she was fighting charges of assaulting an officer and interfering with the police. And she was facing a worrisome reality: Her actions in May could cost her the election, even in this diverse, immigrant-friendly, majority-Democratic city."

"The controversy had brought new campaign donations and support. But it had also set off a fierce backlash. An angry man had accosted Haxhiaj outside a supermarket as she walked with her children. A bomb threat had been sent to her city email: "This is what you lunatic progressive get," it said in capital letters. Days before the election, a local firefighters union had rescinded its endorsement of her after receiving complaints from its members."

Early on Election Day, Etel Haxhiaj stood outside a Worcester polling place holding a campaign sign amid a cold wind. Haxhiaj, 45, was a two-term City Council member facing reelection and scrutiny over a May confrontation with city police and federal immigration agents in which she placed herself between officers and an immigrant family. Videos of the encounter went viral. Six months later she faced charges of assaulting an officer and interfering with police. The controversy brought donations and support but also threats, an accosting, and a rescinded firefighters union endorsement. Worcester remains a diverse, politically complex city.

Read at Boston.com