Ojeda said the region is plagued by intense poverty, corruption and nepotism and that he is “challenging the powers that be”.
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Ojeda says when he bent down to put the sticker on the vehicle Porter attacked him.
Ojeda remembers little of the attack. ‘I do not now, nor have I ever, condoned violence.
Ojeda said he has known Porter since they were kids – but neither he nor police have suggested any motive for the beating. “He was completely nice to me”.
“Then he lures me to the front of the truck where nobody can see us”, he said.
Porter is now being held on three charges of assault.
The acquaintance, Jonathan Stuart Porter, showed up to the cookout uninvited, Mr. Ojeda’s family told WSAZ News. A retired U.S. Army officer, Ojeda previously made an unsuccessful bid for a congressional district in 2014.
His wife Kelly Ojeda added to the Charleston Gazette-Mail: ‘If you stand up to run against people who have controlled this state for decades this is what you get’. “I’m not living under somebody’s thumb”.
Ojeda (left and right) is postponing surgery until after the primary vote on Tuesday. The nominee moves on to the November general election.
“I was informed that my opponent was physically assaulted and injured at a political function today”, Kirkendoll said in a statement. “It has no place in our political campaigns or in our communities”, he said.
A trooper with the West Virginia State Police say he could not release information about the incident Sunday afternoon.
Ojeda is running for the District 7 West Virginia Senate seat.
Ojeda later acknowledged that he knows both his assailant and his assailant’s family, writing on Facebook that “I haven’t spoken to that Jonathan idiot in years which tells me that there was more to this”. This doesn’t scare me and I don’t quit! “This was premeditated and there was a reason the guy did this”, he wrote. “Regardless, if anyone thinks that this will get me to march in line you obviously don’t know me very well”.
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He also says he plans to go back home soon to be ready for Tuesday’s primary election.
