Florida man arrested for threatening to kill Republican congressman

A 19-year-old Homestead, Florida man is under arrest after allegedly threatening to kill Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) on Twitter.

According to WFOR-TV, the suspect's name is Pierre Alexandro Verges-Castro, and he is accused of tweeting, "I will kill Carlos Curbelo."

Roll Call reports that Congressman Curbelo's office became aware of the threat early last week and turned the matter over to the Capitol Police for investigation. Police added additional security to his Washington, D.C. and Florida offices as a precaution, and additionally provided security at public events attended by Curbelo as a precaution.

According to WPLG-TV, police arrested Verges-Castro on Thursday and charged him with written threats to kill or do bodily harm.

Curbelo responded to the threatening tweet, which has since been removed from Twitter, lamenting that "Political intoxication is making some Americans more prone to both verbal and physical violence. It's a serious crisis and we all have to do our part to put an end to it. Not sure what's more disturbing; the fact that someone tweeted this or that 4 accounts liked it."

Curbelo represents Florida's 26th Congressional District, and he faces a tough re-election battle. Several recent polls show that Curbelo is neck-and-neck with Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Curbelo won re-election in 2016 by a 51-43 margin, in spite of the fact that his district voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election by a comfortable 57-41 margin. The race is considered to be one of the pivotal races that will determine control of the House of Representatives.