'Political violence': Colorado Dem lawmakers say they were targets of vandalism on Election Night
Nov 11, 2024
Two Colorado lawmakers, both Democrats, said their cars were vandalized on Election Night and that law enforcement was investigating.State Representative Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista, and Rep. Tisha Mauro, D-Pueblo, sent a joint release Monday condemning what they called political violence." As elected officials, we want to make it clear that political violence is never acceptable, and we will not be silenced or intimidated, said Martinez and Mauro in the statement. Free and fair elections are how Coloradans decide who they want to govern our state, and any targeting of public officials is un-democratic and un-American.Martinez said he was attending the Pueblo Democratic watch party at the Union Depot on Election Night on Pueblos B Street.After leaving the event, he discovered his trucks passenger and driver side windows had been smashed in. A large rock was left on his seat.Initially, he didnt think much of it until a meeting with other Pueblo Democrats the next morning. Thats when Rep. Mauro revealed her car windows had been smashed with a rock as well. She had parked outside of her home.To their knowledge, no other cars were targeted or vandalized at Union Depot or in Mauros neighborhood and no other Democrats have reported a similar incident.On Monday, Martinez told KOAA he believes they were targeted because they both have identifiers on their cars signaling they work at the state capitol. Mauro has a house district license plate and Martinez had his state capitol parking pass on display.On Election Day, this is where our voices are supposed to be heard. And this is how we air out our disputeswhether we're happy, not happy with our current elected officialsis being able to do that through the ballot box, through our democratic process, said Martinez in an interview on Monday. We shouldn't be doing it this way, through violence or through acts of vandalism.Since filing the report, Martinez said he hasnt heard any updates into the investigation.Both Martinez and Mauro won re-election to their respective seats.________Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.