Her husband, James Lawton, has documented some of the harassment on his Facebook page. Much is in the form of social media posts that use foul or racist language and images.

Even without the harassment and threats, Ms. Morris said she found the work of state government to be rewarding but draining. “I am proud of that work, but I need the space to breathe because for that exchange it exacts a huge cost,” she said.

She pointed to the low pay for legislators — $13,000 a year for five to six months of intensive work — as a barrier that keeps women, people of color and the working class out of state politics. And she said there were few positions in state government that paid enough for people to support themselves or their families.

“To serve in this state requires sacrifice, literally even financial sacrifice,” she said. “It is a system set up for the wealthy and the retired.”

The decision by Ms. Morris to end her re-election campaign last month sent a jolt through Vermont politics and elevated questions of racial justice in one of the most racially homogeneous states in the country. The United States Census Bureau estimated in 2017 that the population of Vermont is more than 94 percent white and slightly more than one percent African-American.

“In the state of Vermont, no elected official, candidate or person should be fearful of their safety because of the color of their skin or their point of view,” Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement to The Burlington Free Press in August. “This corrosion of political discourse is destructive to our democracy, and we cannot let it take hold."

Ms. Morris and her lawyer, Robert Appel, accused the Bennington Police Department of failing to appropriately respond to her concerns since at least 2016. She said her experience illustrated that “as a state we are not familiar, we are not prepared, we are not ready at all” to deal with issues of racial justice.