The office of Rene Gonzalez has been vandalized twice and burglarized once between September 24th and October 29th.
He is running against Portland’s incumbent City Commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty. The race is non-partisan, and both candidates are registered Democrats. Hardesty, running on a far-left platform, accuses Gonzalez of being “right-wing” and portrays him as a secret Republican.
Campaign staff arrived to work Monday, September 26th, and discovered their downtown office had been burglarized over the weekend. Computers and other electronics were stolen.
When they returned to work the next day, September 27th, the windows had been smashed. Five other neighboring businesses also had their windows smashed. A man was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief. The suspect was never named, and charges like this are rarely prosecuted by the office of local DA Mike Schmidt.
When staff showed up on the morning of October 29th, they found that the office had been vandalized yet again. This time it appears more targeted. Just the office of Gonzalez was hit, and not any neighboring businesses. A window was broken, and a large rock was lying on the floor in the middle of the office.
The office has suffered an estimated $8k in losses during the attacks.
Retail and office space in downtown Portland has seen an exodus ever since city officials conducted a stand down and allowed BLM and Antifa to riot for months on end in 2020.
