Vandals dress Democrat as a Nazi and deface Republican’s signs in California House race

Both the Republican and Democrat running in California’s 1st District House race have taken to social media to decry the recent theft and vandalism of their campaign signs.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, went on Facebook first, in a Sept. 26 post showing what appeared to be several of his campaign signs defaced with spray paint.

“My campaign signs are being stolen and vandalized repeatedly,” he wrote. “It is worse than I’ve ever seen it. If you see one let us know so we can replace it. Unlike previous years, this isn’t kids just goofing around, it’s targeted.”

LaMalfa, who has served in Congress since 2013, is running for re-election against Audrey Denney, a Chico Democrat.

On Sept. 27, Denney condemned the targeting of campaign signs.

“I don’t condone it and I wish it wouldn’t happen,” she said.

Her post was accompanied with an image of one of her campaign signs, vandalized to show her appearing to wear a Nazi uniform and calling her a “regressive leftist” who is “for ending 2nd Amendment.”

She wrote: “No, I am not ‘for ending the 2nd amendment.’ I’m a gun owner myself. And no, I am not a Nazi.”

The political polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight lists California’s 1st District as “likely Republican,” and gives LaMalfa an 84 percent chance of winning.