(The Center Square) — The New York state Republican Party’s Albany headquarters was vandalized and defaced with Nazi imagery for the second time this month as GOP leaders criticized Democrats for ratcheting up political tensions.
Vandals taped swastikas to the doors and windows of the GOP’s offices and a message that read, “If this is not what you stand for, prove it,” according to the Albany Police Department, which is investigating the crimes. It was the second such incident at the party’s headquarters in the past two weeks, authorities said. No arrests have been made yet.
New York GOP chairman Ed Cox blasted the “hateful vandalism,” saying it “invites political violence and threatens the wellbeing of our employees and guests.”
But Cox pointed to “calls to political violence” by prominent New York Democrats in response to the Trump administration’s policies, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, accusing them of “fueling a climate of hostility that emboldens such hateful actors.”
“They must immediately call on their supporters to reject political violence and restore civility to our discourse,” he said in a statement. “This is not only an attack on our party, it is also an attack on the values of civil discourse, democracy and decency.”
Congressman Mike Lawler, a Hudson Valley Republican, echoed those sentiments and accused Democrats and far-left groups of stoking political unrest.
“The growing calls for political violence we’re seeing around the country are being fueled by Democrats like Chuck Schumer, JB Pritzker, Frederica Wilson, and others, who have used reckless rhetoric and actions, saying Republicans are ‘traitors,’ sending paid far-left activists to disrupt events, and creating a climate of hostility that emboldens and encourages these acts,” he said.
“Any form of political violence or intimidation is unacceptable, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Lawler added.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik also blamed Democrats for motivating the acts of vandalism with political rhetoric.
“New Yorkers haven’t forgotten that New York Democrats viciously and dangerously compared last year’s successful Trump Madison Square Garden Rally to Nazis and called President Trump ‘Hitler,’” she posted on social media. “Americans rejected this dangerous rhetoric and overwhelmingly elected President Trump at the ballot box.”
The New York state Democratic Party also condemned the incidents and said they shared the GOP’s concerns about political violence, calling on New Yorkers “across the political spectrum to denounce hate in all its forms.”
“This is unacceptable,” Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, posted on social media Tuesday. “No one should ever resort to violence or vandalism to make a political point.”
