Gay Republican Targeted by Vandals
Vandalism follows bashing of openly gay
GOP candidate by Democratic rival.
Just days before his primary, the campaign office of a Republican House candidate was vandalized earlier this week, a crime police believe was likely “politically motivated.”
Carl DeMaio, who is challenging first-term Democratic representative Scott Peters in California’s 52nd district, arrived with his staff at the campaign’s San Diego office Wednesday morning to find a computer, phones, and other equipment damaged. As every cord in the office had been cut, and water had been poured over various electronics. The race between DeMaio and Peters is expected to be one of the most competitive House elections this year.
“They destroyed everything — they wiped us out entirely,” DeMaio, a libertarian Republican who served a term on San Diego’s city council, told Fox News on Friday. “It was designed to silence the campaign very clearly,” reports the National Review.
Nothing was stolen or taken from the office, added DeMaio.
Despite the excessive damage, the campaign and its supporters were able to restore or replace the equipment and get up and running again in a matter of hours. By Wednesday night, DeMaio tweeted a picture of his campaign already hitting the phones again.
Police are still investigating the case. While DeMaio remains hopeful that the vandals will be “brought to justice,” he is keeping his focus on the upcoming primary.
The break-in and vandalism come less than a week before DeMaio is set to face Peters and two other Republicans — Kirk Jorgensen and Fred Simon — in an all-party primary, where the top two voter-getters will advance to the ballot in the general election.
The race, which the Cook Political Report has rated as a “Democratic Toss Up,” has been highly contentious against DeMaio, who is openly gay. Earlier this month, the Peters campaign posted a blog post on its official website pejoratively calling DeMaio a “Mary.”
DeMaio dismisses these “have been willing to use the ‘gay card’ to try and defeat us” and distract from his successful economic policies when he served on the San Diego City Council for 2008 to 2012.
Also see Carl DeMaio for Congress
Carl DeMaio
A New Generation Republican
San Diego's 52nd Congressional District The district is a toss-up with 32% Democrat registration, 34% GOP and 34% independents and smaller parties. |
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