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A Democratic Candidate Was Beaten and Knocked Unconscious at His Home
“He knocked me out,” the candidate, who suspects he was targeted with election-related violence, told VICE News.
PB
by Paul Blest
November 1, 2022, 10:50am

https://www.vice.com/en/article/93a8qp/pennsylvania-richard-ringer-assault

pennsylvania-richard-ringer-assault
Ringer for the 51st District

A Democrat running for a state House seat in Pennsylvania says he was attacked and knocked unconscious at his home early Monday morning, and that he believes he’s being targeted with election-related harassment.

Richard Ringer, 69, is running for a swing seat in Fayette County, about an hour southeast of Pittsburgh on the border with both Maryland and West Virginia. On Monday morning, Ringer called 911 for the third time in a month—this time to report that a man had assaulted him at his home.

The alleged attack on Ringer comes as officials are on alert about election-related threats and violence. In recent weeks, extremism watchdogs have warned of an uptick of violent rhetoric in far-right circles, as an enormous number of Republican candidates, led by former President Donald Trump, have continuously touted lies about election fraud in 2020.

On Monday morning, Ringer says, he woke up around 5 a.m., heard someone attempting to open his garage door, and saw a flashlight in his yard.

“I said, ‘I’m tired of this crap,’” Ringer, 69, told VICE News.

Ringer said a man was in his driveway with his back turned to him, so Ringer tackled him, and “as a result, we end up on the ground.” The man was larger, however, and Ringer said he was hit in the head “about 10 times.”

“He knocked me out, so I have no idea who the hell he was,” Ringer told VICE News.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police told VICE News in an email that when state troopers arrived, “Ringer had bruises and other minor injuries to various parts of his body.” The investigation is ongoing, but there are no suspects or leads, the spokesperson said.
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Ringer, a first-time candidate who’s previously worked as a political consultant and journalist, told VICE News that two weeks ago his door was graffitied. The message was partially washed off by rain by the time he saw it, but in photos it appears to say “your race”—which Ringer, who is white, took to mean his campaign—and “dead.”

Photos published by PennLive show bruises on Ringer’s head, face, and hands from the incident Monday, as well as the white graffiti painted on his red garage door.

In another incident within the past three weeks, Ringer came home from dinner with his girlfriend and found that someone had thrown a brick through a window and his storm door. Before October, Ringer told VICE News, he hadn’t called 911 a single time since he moved in 2012 into the house where he grew up, in order to take care of his elderly parents.

“I can’t connect the dots on all three incidents with my campaign,” Ringer said. “But the fact there are three incidents in the weeks leading up to the midterm election, and my neighborhood is quiet, residential, middle-class, crime-free—you know, it’s like, what the hell?"

The Pennsylvania State Police are also investigating the graffiti and brick incidents, according to Pittsburgh TV station WTAE, which first reported the incident.


Isn't it about time that RW GOPers cut back on their violence?