Democratic candidate says her home was targeted in egging. Police say area was hit

A legislative candidate said her North Richland home was targeted by vandals.

Democratic challenger Shir Regev discovered two broken eggs on her home and a third in the lawn Saturday morning, she said.

“Fortunately, eggs can be washed off, but it’s still an unsettling event,” she said. “It’s particularly unsettling as one of only a handful openly LGBTQ candidates in Washington.”

Regev is running against incumbent Rep. Brad Klippert, R-Kennewick, in District 8, which includes Kennewick and Richland.

The egging felt targeted to her, she said. She did not see any other homes in her block that received the same treatment.

But Richland police Capt. Chris Lee said she wasn’t alone. A number of other homes in the area were hit by eggs. There is nothing consistent between the places that were struck.

“There is no connection between one and the other,” he said. “At this point, we don’t have any suspect information. We don’t know if there is any video footage.”

Concerned about the egging

Regev is concerned that this behavior could continue to escalate.

When she ran for Richland City Council in 2019, she was a target of online harassment by a man radicalized by the far-right, she said in a statement to her contributors.

Regev felt like she was singled out because of her political beliefs. None of the other homes on her block have signs for Democratic Party candidates or have signs saying they don’t tolerate hate.

“We know they are people from our own neighborhood,” she said. “I saw where they dropped an egg on the street around the corner.”

She believes the vandalism stems from the “hate spewed from elected leaders” in Olympia and Washington, D.C.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We don’t exist in a bubble. What is happening around our country and our state has a huge impact here in the Tri-Cities,” she said.

“And when our own local leaders embrace the very politicians who make that kind of rhetoric their calling card, you see it embraced by members of our community. Instead, we must confront these beliefs head on and reject them. I will not back down because hate has no home here.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 4:38 PM.