Pennsylvania Democrat Says He Was Assaulted Outside His Home

A Democrat running for a state House seat said he was assaulted outside his home in the early hours of Monday morning.

Richard Ringer, 69, said he was knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant in the backyard of his home in Fayette County's North Union Township at around 5 a.m.

"I looked out the window and there was light from a flashlight in the yard," he told Newsweek.

"So I went, got dressed. And instead of going downstairs to the back, I went out my front door, walked down the driveway. And the guy who was there had his back to me, and I just tackled him and fell to the ground and had some scrapes and bruises.

"And he was taller and heavier than I am, he just pummeled me, hit me in the head, face about 10 times, knocked me conscious so I had no idea what direction they fled."

Ringer, who is running in Pennsylvania's 51st District for a seat being vacated by outgoing state Rep. Matt Dowling, said it was the third time in three weeks that he has had to call police to his home.

In the first incident, he said a threatening message was spray-painted on his garage door. "It was hard to read a little bit because the night it was graffitied, there was rain against the door so some of it ran. But the message was like 'your race,' meaning my campaign, 'is dead. Look out because you're next'... something to that effect."

Last Thursday, he came home to find a brick had been thrown through the window of a storm door.

The spray-painted message was partially washed off by the rain by the time Ringer saw it, but what was left clearly visible were the words "your race" and "dead."

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police confirmed to Newsweek that troopers responded to Ringer's residence on Monday.

"I can confirm troopers investigated an incident that occurred at Richard Ringer's residence on the morning of Monday, October 31," the spokesperson said.

"In addition, we have investigated two other incidents of vandalism at his residence prior to this incident."

Ringer said that he is "awfully suspicious" that all three are related to his candidacy, considering how quiet his neighborhood is. "There's no crime around here," he said.

"It baffles me, you can have your differences in opinions and views on issues but interjecting violence into the mix, to me, is insane, and it should not happen."

The incident comes as Democrats and law enforcement agencies have warned about the threat of political violence following an attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband.

According to a criminal complaint, the man charged in that attack told police he had wanted to hold her hostage and was planning to "break her kneecaps."

David DePape broke into the couple's San Francisco home early on Friday morning, went upstairs to where Paul Pelosi, 82, was sleeping and demanded to talk to "Nancy."

In the wake of that Pelosi assault, mocking jokes and conspiracy theories are being circulated by far-right figures and some prominent Republicans a week before the midterm elections.

In a statement on Monday, Speaker Pelosi said she and her family are "most grateful" for the "thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes" since the attack on her husband.

She said her husband was making "steady progress on what will be a long recovery process." He underwent surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries after the attack.