So this is the second incident of violence being used to drive a Democratic candidate out of a race (boldface mine):
Michael Treiman, the only Democratic candidate for Binghamton mayor, pulled out of the race on Tuesday after receiving threats.
WNBF reports that Treiman quit one week after he announced his campaign for public office. Treiman made his announcement on Facebook, saying that he was “officially dropping out of the race as of this moment.”
Treiman discussed his bid to challenge Republican incumbent Richard David during an appearance on WNBF’s “Binghamton Now” radio program Tuesday morning. Four hours after the show, Treiman received threatening emails.
Tuesday evening, Treiman was still being threatened, but the messages addressed his wife and children. Treiman tells WNBF that the emails were “heinous attempts to scare me off,” but he didn’t consider leaving the race.
Later that night, Treiman returned home at 8 p.m. after picking up his two-year-old and eleven-month-old children from a sitter. That’s when an unidentified person in a pickup truck threw a full soda container at him. Treiman said he was hit in the back as he turned to shield the child he was holding.
Treiman said the man who threw the can yelled “liberal scumbag” before driving away from the scene.
While Treiman didn’t report the incident to police, he said two Binghamton police detectives showed up at his home Wednesday morning. He said the investigators said they were told to check on the condition of him and his family.
Treiman tells WNBF that he won’t jeopardize the safety of his wife and children while running for office.
There now are no Democrats seeking the mayoral position in Binghamton.
This is where political violence is the most pernicious: at the local level. Federal candidates have the resources and the attention to cope with this. But a local mayoral candidate, not in a major metropolitan area, lacks the ability to protect himself.
Will any of those who have written extensively about Evergreen State College write about this? I’m guessing not. And not to burst any of my readers’ bubbles, whether on the left or the right, this does matter much more than what happens on campus.
mikethemadbiologist
This is bad, but claims to kill high profile social and political persons are unfortunately very common nowadays throughout the western world. Both left and right wing. Also actual attempts. Also both left and right wing. There is less and less communication between both camps, we can debate about the why of that, but the consequence is this increase in violence.
And there is now the man who tried to shoot as many republican members of congress as possible. Violence in politics is increasing. I have no idea where it will end.