Political Candidate Suspends Campaign Over 'Disturbing Incident'

Pictured above: Sean Grace (at right) campaigning door to door with a volunteer on May 6 Photo from Sean Grace for Senate Facebook page

UPDATE: In a Thursday update, the campaign has resumed after local officials assured Sean Grace that the grassroots campaign is welcome in their town. (Read below for the candidate's updated statement)

Here is the original post which was published Wednesday:

Woodbridge, CT - The campaign of Sean Grace, a self-described progressive Democrat, has suspended canvassing in Woodbridge as a result of an incident that occurred on Tuesday involving two of the candidate's young volunteers.

This message was posted on the Sean Grace for Senate Facebook page on Tuesday.

Today, while my amazing and diverse crew of volunteers was canvassing in Woodbridge, a disturbing incident, with ugly racial undertones, occurred.

Two of my volunteers were questioned by the police. Even after it was clear that they were canvassing for a political campaign, the police officers had a discussion about whether or not these volunteers should be arrested for trespassing. Thankfully, wonderful Woodbridge residents came out of their homes and intervened on the volunteers' behalf. The police continued to observe our volunteers, which made them feel unsafe, and so they decided to leave.

For this reason my campaign is suspending canvassing in Woodbridge until we have had a chance to speak with town officials and get assurances that there will not be a repeat of this unfortunate incident.

Online reaction to the candidate's message was swift. In answer to one Woodbridge resident's offer to help with the matter, Mr. Grace added "At this point I am hopeful this can be resolved with a discussion."

Mr. Grace is running for the Connecticut State Senate District 17 representing Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck and Woodbridge. He grew up in Beacon Falls and attended school in Naugatuck.

Updated statement by the Grace campaign:

The Sean Grace for Senate Campaign has decided to resume canvassing in Woodbridge. The decision is in response to assurances from town officials that the grassroots campaign is welcome in their town.
The campaign had previously suspended campaigning because of an incident involving police on Tuesday. Bethwood Patch broke the story on July 4.

Mr. Grace posted the following announcement on his Facebook pageon Thursday afternoon:
Our campaign is moving forward from the unfortunate events of two days ago, when a team of our campaign volunteers was stopped and followed by Woodbridge Police. Since then, we have received assurances from Woodbridge First Selectman Beth Heller and Woodbridge Town Attorney Gerald Weiner that our grassroots campaign is welcome in their community.

To be perfectly clear, door-to-door political campaigning is not soliciting and is protected by the First Amendment and a strong series of Supreme Court precedents. After identifying themselves to law enforcement as political campaign canvassers, our volunteers should have been completely free to continue door knocking.

We have knocked on thousands of doors as a campaign so far, without any prior interactions with law enforcement. Hopefully, it is just a coincidence that our only canvassing team stopped by police included a person of color, but history, our experience, and common sense suggest otherwise.

As of today, we are recommencing our canvassing efforts in Woodbridge. And we expect our diverse team to be welcomed.