Ex-congressional candidate Elijah Manley surrenders to Broward authorities on social media death threat charges

Former Florida House District 20 candidate Elijah Manley surrendered to authorities Thursday and was booked into the Broward County Jail on two counts of making written threats to kill or cause bodily injury.

Manley, a 27-year-old Democrat, faces the charges over social media posts he made shortly after losing the August election, according to an arrest warrant obtained by CBS News Miami. Investigators said the warrant stems from a series of Facebook posts exchanged between Manley and two other people.

According to the warrant, one post said: "Every Democrat needs to get behind the Democratic nominee for Senate. Anybody not doing that, I promise you I'm going to cut your [expletive] head off."

The candidate referred to in the post was Angie Nixon.

Authorities said Manley later tagged two people in the comments and wrote more messages that investigators interpreted as threats.

One comment said: "I'm talking to y'all. I saw y'all comments earlier. I'm already pissed off, do not piss me off more. I swear to god, take me to war over this black woman, and I promise y'all I will burn y'all [expletive] castle to the ground and anyone else in my way."

According to the warrant, Manley told investigators the comments were not meant as actual threats. He said he and the two people were having a political disagreement and that his remarks were a challenge to their political views, not an expression of intent to cause harm.

The Broward State Attorney's Office said it will not handle the case and asked that it be reassigned to another state attorney's office. Officials said the request was made because the alleged victims previously took part in charitable drives that benefited the office.

Court records show Manley's bond was set at $40,000. He remained in the Broward County Jail Thursday evening pending his release.