The Maryland Democratic Party is calling out what it believes are increased acts of “brazen” political sign vandalism in Harford County, citing a video of an unidentified person in Bel Air driving a motorbike through two signs supporting Harris/Walz and Angela Alsobrooks on Saturday.

The video provided by Maryland Democratic Party officials and captured by a camera mounted on a residential structure shows a person with a hood covering their head riding a motorbike on the grass on a residential property in Bel Air. The driver passes a large, freestanding sign endorsing Alsobrooks, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president. The driver circles back and slowly drives the motorbike through the sign, breaking it in half.

According to Luca Amayo, communications specialist with the Maryland Democratic Party, the destroyed sign also had an orange “X” spray-painted over it before the Saturday destruction.

“It reeks of intentionality the fact that it happened under the cover of night, which I think is the concern,” Amayo said. “The motorbike incident has been the most brazen that we have seen.”

The Harford County Democratic Central Committee recently elevated complaints statewide after representatives said five other sign vandalism incidents occurred in the county over the past few months.

“There is always some element of sign vandalism in every election, but I think the intent and the intensity of it this time is a little bit more of a concerted effort than what we are used to,” Amayo said.

Jeff McBride, chairman of the Harford County Republican Central Committee, stated that the group does not condone vandalism and takes political vandalism very seriously.

“I wouldn’t ever condone it and if I ever heard about it, I don’t care if it was a Republican putting a Dem sign down or the other way around, I wouldn’t tolerate it,” McBride said. “I would support anyone being prosecuted that was found on video or proven to do it, that is for sure.”

McBride noted that members of the local Republican central committee have not been informed of any vandalism to Republican campaign material.

A state law that went into effect in 2021 prohibits a person from willfully and maliciously destroying, injuring or defacing a campaign sign on another person’s property. The legislation states that violations are a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000, or imprisonment for no more than 60 days or both.

Cristie Hopkins, public information officer for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, said the sheriff has had very few reports of political sign vandalism and this year’s reports seem to show a decrease from the past. Though the sheriff’s office record tracking data does not allow a specific search, Hopkins said she located a notable incident as recent as Sept. 2 during which three signs were stolen from a residence.

Amayo explained that the Democratic party does not typically inform police of vandalism as they do not yet feel the vandalism has reached a point where supporters and volunteers are in danger.

“I think our hope here is that with some awareness and people more keen to what is going on, there will be a bit more deterrence to this kind of thing to where we don’t have to notify the police,” Amayo said. “Law enforcement is working hard and there are a lot of things they are dealing with so we prefer to not deploy police resources toward this.”

The repeated vandalism in Bel Air “feels targeted,” Amayo said and is beginning to sprout safety concerns for the party.

“If someone is mad enough to continue to destroy property time and time again, we have to be thinking about the safety of everyone involved,” Amayo said.

Amayo said the party is working to document vandalism through the use of surveillance. He said that if the vandalism continues or escalates to a level of threat, then the party will forward their documentation to law enforcement.

“We encourage the citizens of Harford County to respect the opinions and positions of others and to engage our neighbors in thoughtful dialogue about candidates for political office and to oppose uncivil, destructive and harmful behaviors,” Henry Gibbons, chair of the Harford County Democratic Central Committee, said in a news release.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.