So we don't know exactly what the motive was yet, but the mind does tend to turn to Drumpf supporters. Although I suppose a Democratic Primary fight could have gotten unusually nasty.A Democratic candidate for West Virginia’s State Senate who was beaten up at a barbecue last weekend said that he suspected the attack had been politically motivated but that he still hoped to leave the hospital in time to publicly watch the results of the state primary election on Tuesday.
The candidate, Richard Ojeda, said by phone from his hospital bed in Charleston that he had been kicked in the head until he passed out at an outdoors campaign event by a man he had known as a child, leaving him with fractured bones in eight places — including his eye socket and jaw — and stitches, bruises and swelling.
A suspect, Jonathan Porter, turned himself in to state troopers late Sunday and was booked on felony charges, including malicious assault and destruction of property, according to a law enforcement official.
Mr. Ojeda said he believed the attack was politically motivated because he had been “questioning leaders” and publicly calling out entrenched nepotism that he said had resulted in favoritism in jobs and salaries.
“I have become public enemy No. 1,” he said, adding that people had called his house and threatened him.
Mr. Ojeda, 45, a military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been campaigning for a State Senate seat that includes parts of the large coal mining region in the state’s southwest. His platform opposes what he describes as the state government’s political nepotism, corruption and misuse of government funds.
“We don’t have transparency in Logan County,” Mr. Ojeda said. “If you work in the coal industry and you asked a question to any of these people, you would find yourself laid off.”
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In the telephone interview, Mr. Ojeda said he was at a barbecue campaign event on Sunday in a mountainous region about 50 miles southwest of Charleston, the capital, when Mr. Porter asked him for a campaign sticker for the rear bumper of his pickup truck. Mr. Ojeda complied, providing one that said, “Ojeda for Senate.”
When Mr. Porter asked for one for the front, Mr. Ojeda said, he knelt down to affix it there.
“He was behind me,” Mr. Ojeda said. “He kicked me with steel-toed boots in the back of the head.” He said he blacked out. “When I woke up my face was on a tree stump covered in blood.”
Senior State Trooper J. E. Garren said that as other people at the event tried to intervene, Mr. Porter, 41, got into his truck and drove toward Mr. Ojeda, who was on the ground. One person stood in front of him to block the truck.
Mr. Porter backed up, hitting all-terrain vehicles that had been positioned to try to prevent him from leaving the scene, the trooper said. Mr. Porter then fled, the trooper said.
Witnesses told the authorities that Mr. Porter had used brass knuckles to strike Mr. Ojeda, but the trooper said the authorities did not find any. The motive was unclear because Mr. Porter has declined to speak, Trooper Garren said.
The beating soon took on political overtones, reverberating into other campaigns as Mr. Ojeda’s Democratic opponent, State Senator Arthur Kirkendoll, and the brother of the suspect reacted to it online.
Mr. Kirkendoll said in a statement published by 13 News: “I do not now, nor have I ever, condoned violence. It has no place in our political campaigns or in our communities.” Mr. Kirkendoll, who wished Mr. Ojeda a speedy recovery, could not be reached by telephone.
Mr. Porter’s brother, Harold Porter Jr., who is running for Logan County assessor in the election, said on his campaign Facebook page that he did not “condone” the violence. “Something like this has no place in our county or our politics,” he said.
Mr. Ojeda urged his supporters not to assume that Harold Porter had any role in the attack, writing on a Facebook account that he uses for campaign news, “We may not see eye to eye politically on everything, but I know he is a good person that would never be a part of anything like this.”
Mr. Ojeda noted that the attack came hours after he had published photographs of a document that he had obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showing his opponent was a paid consultant for the county.
“These are usually things that the elected officials don’t want the citizens to see!” Mr. Ojeda wrote. “Well ... come Tuesday, remember how my opponent has been charging the Logan County commission a consulting fee for years to the tune of $2,500.00 a month.”
After the attack, Mr. Ojeda wrote that he was brushing his teeth “with a sponge” but was still committed to the race. “If you thought this would shut me up you are mistaken,” he said.
“I am not scared of those of you who think you can intimidate me,” he said, noting that he had dealt with the Taliban and Al Qaeda while on deployment.
Mr. Ojeda said he wanted to leave the hospital in time to watch the voting on Tuesday with friends, then go to the courthouse where results of the election will be announced. He said he would return to the hospital for surgery on Thursday.
“I want people to know that I am O.K.,” he said.
Also, from the description of the attack, it sounds like the attacker tried to run over the candidate with a truck, and was only stopped by a bystander. Which moves this up from assault to an assassination attempt.
Edited to fix link.
