Arlington’s GOP chair is crying foul over what he says are attacks on the party’s campaign signage.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t hear from Republican voters about stolen, damaged or vandalized Republican yard signs,” Arlington County Republican Committee chair Matthew Hurtt told ARLnow. He pegged assaults on signs in the hundreds.
“Arlington Republicans have caught several ‘tolerant’ liberals in the act, sharing photo and video footage on our social-media accounts,” Hurtt said. One image, of a woman purportedly trashing Donald Trump signs in the Courthouse area, received wide distribution. Another recent video post purports to show a Trump sign theft in Clarendon.
Elsewhere, a Trump sign was spotted in a trash can in Pentagon City over the weekend.
It is part of what Republicans say is a campaign of harassment that also has included “menacing” phone calls from “unhinged leftists,” the party said in a posting on the party’s X (formerly Twitter) account, where sign issues have taken center stage during this election cycle.
“We are in communication with detectives at the Arlington County Police Department regarding constant harassing,” the post last week said. “Stand by.”
Arlington County Democratic Committee chair Steve Baker said his party encourages “all campaigns, local party organizations and individuals to comply with local zoning ordinance and Virginia Department of Transportation regulations when placing candidate signs in public spaces.”
In past elections, local Democratic leaders have said they, too, face signs being stolen and defaced.
Audrey Clement, who for the past decade has run annual independent bids in Arlington races as a self-described protest candidate, said this year to date she has had no sign-removal issues. But she criticized the campaign of Jerry Torres, the Republican nominee challenging Rep. Don Beyer for the 8th District U.S. House of Representatives seat, and its prolific sign placement.
Torres “is plastering the medians and sidewalks with his signs in both Arlington and Falls Church, dozens of them at some intersections,” Clement said.
“In Arlington the limit is two signs per median on Arlington maintained roads,” said Clement. “Elsewhere in the state it’s NO signs per median on state roads. Why is the local GOP letting Torres get away it? It’s putting them in a bad light in a critical election year.”
County zoning-enforcement staff has the power to remove signs on county-government-owned right-of-way that is in violation of local ordinances.
Unlike the Arlington County Democratic Committee, which centralizes and coordinates sign-placement activities among its candidates, the local Republican organization this year is leaving that up to individual candidates. Hurtt said his party organization’s focus is getting the word out in other ways.
Illegally removing signage is not an issue confined to election season. Two decades ago, during a contentious battle over putting a sports stadium in the Pentagon City area, at least one man found himself in front of a Circuit Court judge after removing signage opposing the stadium from a median strip. Similar complaints were raised during civic battles over the Columbia Pike streetcar proposal and Missing Middle zoning changes.
Even a man posting “Empathy” signs saw them removed in Arlington earlier this year.
