Campaign signs found booby-trapped with razor blades in Pennsylvania

Less than a month ahead of November’s midterm elections, at least three political campaign signs were placed on someone’s property in southeastern Pennsylvania and found booby-trapped with razor blades, local police said over the weekend.

The signs separately promoted the campaigns of gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman and U.S. House candidate Ashley Ehasz, all of whom are Democrats. In a Facebook post shared on Sunday evening, the Upper Makefield Township Police Department said that the person whose property was targeted with booby-trapped signage “ended up slicing their fingers” while trying to remove one for Shapiro’s campaign.

“The below campaign signs were placed without permission on a subject’s property,” the department wrote, alongside photos that showed what appeared to be multiple razor blades taped to the perimeter of each one. 

“When the resident went to remove the Shapiro sign from their property they were cut by the razor blades placed around the perimeter of the sign,” the Facebook post continued. “Obviously, this was designed to inflict punishment on anyone who attempted to remove the sign.”

Police said they inspected all campaign signs and found razor blades placed around the perimeter of signs for Fetterman and  Ehasz’s campaigns after initially finding one for Shapiro. Police said their investigation continues and warned residents to exercise caution in removing signs placed on their property without permission and to call them if “any implements” have been installed on the signs.

“Over the past election cycles, we have dealt with theft of signs, vandalism of signs, neighbor disputes, etc., but this is the first time we have dealt with this situation,” police in the Bucks County community said, calling it “totally unacceptable and a disgusting act.”

“No matter your political affiliation, no matter your candidate preference, resorting to this type of depravity is unacceptable and criminal. We can do better and must,” police said.

Ehasz responded to news of the booby-trapped campaign signs on Twitter this week.

“There is no place in our electoral politics for violence of any kind, and I condemn any actions that would harm or risk our community’s safety,” the candidate wrote. “I hope whoever is responsible is found out and held accountable.”