MUKILTEO, Wash. — Riaz Khan, a candidate for Washington’s State House, says he was attacked while checking on his campaign signs early Tuesday morning.
Around 2 a.m. that morning, Khan was driving along Mukilteo speedway, checking in on his campaign signs. Several signs had gone missing the previous week, so he says he was checking in on them and installing others where they were missed. On the road down a hill to the ferry terminal, he noticed a car following behind him for about a mile. When he pulled over to park, the car turned off. And as Khan got out, he saw two men walking on the sidewalk.
“I thought they were walking down to the Ferry dock,” Khan recalled.
He went along, hammering a sign into the side of the two-lane street.
“I turn around and do my work and they come down so fast. With the anger, using bad words and cursing, ‘You foreigner, you S.O.B,’ hitting hard on my back,” says Khan.
Khan said he has a bruise and back spasms because of the attack. Mukilteo police say they are investigating, though a lack of witnesses and surveillance footage from near the scene is hindering efforts.
The attack comes during an election cycle rife with political violence. Khan believes, though, that this was motivated because of his Muslim and immigrant background.
“Let people know what happened, it has nothing to do with the election, I feel. It has to do with hate. This is a crime, taking all the signs is a crime, hitting someone is a crime, based on a foreign ethnicity is a crime,” Khan said.
Khan’s opponent in the election, incumbent Rep. Strom Peterson condemned the attack.
“Political violence is never okay, whether it’s rhetoric targeting Muslims, immigrants, LGBTQ, or any other group. We have to join together to push back. I have known Riaz for many years and my thoughts are with him and his family. We cannot normalize this behavior,” said Rep. Peterson.
Khan said whether hate-motivated or politically-motivated, he hopes attacks like this never happen to anyone else, adding, “This is unacceptable, what’s going on. Elections come and go, but we should have good friendship, good neighborhoods, we should love each other.”
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