WAUWATOSA — A viewer reached out to TMJ4 and said neighbors near 81st and Meinecke woke up to red spray paint all over their campaign signs. Our team found at least 15 vandalized “Harris for President 2024” and “Harris-Walz” signs in the area.
“It's always upsetting when you can't feel freedom. That's what democracy is all about," Wauwatosa resident Pat Farley said.
Farley went out to get his newspaper Tuesday morning and noticed a red "no symbol" spray painted on his Harris-Walz sign.
"When you're defacing those, it's a criminal act. So don't do it,” Farley explained.
The Wauwatosa Police Department said it received six reports of signs being spray painted in the last 24 hours.
According to Wisconsin State Law, "no person may deface, destroy or remove any legally placed election campaign advertising poster with intent to disrupt the campaign advertising efforts of any committee registered under ch. 11, or alter the information printed thereon so as to change the meaning thereof to the disadvantage of the candidate or cause espoused."
Watch: Wauwatosa residents say campaign signs on their front lawns were vandalized
TMJ4 asked Farley if he is going to get a new sign. He said, “No, I'm going to leave it. You can still read it. So, I'm just making my statement, no you're not going to mess with me that way."
Wauwatosa resident Eric Olsen was a victim of the vandalism as well.
"We're going to leave it up as a sign of this is what we're up against,” Olsen explained.
Wauwatosa is not the only community where campaign signs are being targeted. Surveillance from Kenosha shows a man driving onto a lawn to steal Trump signs last month.
"It feels like the last election in 2020. It feels like there's just a lot of animosity between people,” Olsen said.
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