The name referenced the protesters' corporate attire; described by Paul Gigot in an editorial for The Wall Street Journal as "50-year-old white lawyers with cell phones and Hermès ties", differentiating them from local citizens concerned about vote counting.

[2] Republican New York Representative John E. Sweeney gave the signal that started the riot,[3] telling an aide to "shut it down".

Due to the closeness of the race, and irregularities such as hanging chads, the Gore campaign successfully advocated for a recount of certain ballots.

John E. Sweeney of New York, nicknamed "Congressman Kick-Ass" by President Bush for his work in Florida,[8] set the incident in motion[9] by telling an aide to 'stop them'[1][4] and to "Shut it down.

"[1][4] The demonstration turned violent and, according to The New York Times, "several people were trampled, punched or kicked when protesters tried to rush the doors outside the office of the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections.

"We were trying to stop the recount; Bush had already won," said Evilio Cepero, a reporter for WAQI, an influential Spanish talk radio station in Miami.

[13] A partial list:[13] According to conversations leaked to The Washington Post by journalist and liberal activist Sarah Ashton-Cirillo—who had worked for the Nevada Republican Party leading up to and through the November 2020 election under an assumed hard-right, Trumpist persona—a vice president at consultancy McShane LLC claimed that Republican congressman Paul Gosar was planning a "Brooks Brothers Riot" in Arizona to disrupt the counting of votes in the 2020 United States presidential election, and told Ashton-Cirillo to "get the Proud Boys out" for a similar event in Clark County, Nevada.