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<h1><strong><span style="color:#2b0707;">West Virginia state senate candidate Richard Ojeda, 45, badly beaten over the weekend </span><br />
<span style="color:#2b0707;"> Assaulted while attending political cookout at a friend&#8217;s house</span><br />
</strong><span style="color:#2b0707;"><strong>Jonathan Porter, who is known to Ojeda, lured him away to apply a bumper sticker to his truck.</strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="color:#2b0707;"><strong>He bent down applying bumper sticker and Porter struck him with an unknown object, knocking him out.</strong></span></h1>
<h1><span style="color:#2b0707;"><strong>Attacker continued hitting and kicking Ojeda until a neighbor noticed and ran over to intervene</strong></span><strong><br />
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<h6 class="akamai-controls akamai-layer akamai-share-enabled akamai-volume-enabled akamai-full-screen-enabled akamai-volume-8"><em><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22175" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ojeda10n-1-web.jpg" alt="ojeda10n-1-web" width="635" height="488" /></strong></em><br />
<strong><span class="a-credit"><em>Photo: West Virginia Southwestern Jail</em><br />
</span>The suspect, Jonathan Porter. Has known Ojeda since they were kids.</strong></h6>
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<p>West Virginia state Senate candidate Richard Ojeda was badly beaten over the weekend — and not at the ballot box. Ojeda, 45, suffered several bone fractures and lacerations and now needs surgery after an acquaintance brutally attacked him during a cookout Sunday afternoon, just two days before the state’s primary, police said.<br />
The ailing candidate is now hoping to get out of the hospital as soon as possible to keep campaigning while he still can, according to the Herald-Dispatch.<br />
Jonathan Porter, 41, was taken into custody and held on suspicion of malicious assault, according to cops.</p>
<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22172" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/572fe4313b940-image.jpg" alt="572fe4313b940-image" width="463" height="614" /><strong><br />
West Virginia state Senate candidate Richard Ojeda </strong></h6>
<p>In a hospital room interview, Ojeda told NBC News he was at a barbeque in a mountain area about 60 miles southwest of Charleston when Porter asked him for bumper stickers. Ojeda walked away from the cookout to place the stickers on Porter’s car — and all of a sudden, violence erupted.<br />
“That&#8217;s all I remember,” said Ojeda, a retired U.S. Army major.<br />
“When I woke up, my head was on a tree stump covered in blood. Everyone was looking at me.”</p>
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<h6 class="a-image h"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22173" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ojeda10n-2-web.jpg" alt="ojeda10n-2-web" width="635" height="635" /><span class="a-credit"><em><br />
Richard Ojeta for Senate</em><br />
</span><strong>Veteran, Richard Ojeda </strong></h6>
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<p>Porter eventually turned himself in after hiding in the mountains for six hours, police said.<br />
Ojeda said he suffered eight bone fractures, three lacerations on his face and exterior swelling on his head.<br />
Ojeda said he has known Porter since they were kids — but neither he nor police have suggested any motive for the beating.<br />
But the candidate told NBC News he had one theory: “The moment you start asking questions, you become public enemy number one. I&#8217;m challenging the powers that be.”<br />
On his campaign Facebook page, Ojeda posted a hospital photo showing his swollen face.<br />
&#8220;I am now even more dedicated to the cause. This doesn&#8217;t scare me and I don&#8217;t quit! This was premeditated and there was a reason the guy did this,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Regardless&#8230;.if anyone thinks that this will get me to march in line you obviously don&#8217;t know me very well.&#8221;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-22174" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/13124946_10209689369415074_6088115203932992055_n.jpg" alt="13124946_10209689369415074_6088115203932992055_n" width="491" height="654" /><br />
On Monday, Ojeda&#8217;s mother told reporters her son was in for &#8220;a long recovery.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;He&#8217;s swelled out of proportion and the doctors can&#8217;t do any of the operations they need this morning,&#8221; Florena Ojena said, fighting back tears.<br />
&#8220;He&#8217;s such a health nut, this is gonna devastate his body. He&#8217;ll have to eat his food from a straw.&#8221;<br />
She said Porter, the alleged attacker, was like &#8220;part of the family&#8221; and had known Ojeda &#8220;since grade school.&#8221;<br />
She accused Porter of harboring jealousy at Ojeda for his political ambitions and other accomplishments.<br />
&#8220;My son was an achiever and Jonathan was a loser,&#8221; she said.&#8221;That&#8217;s the only way to explain it.&#8221;<br />
Porter&#8217;s family could not immediately be reached.<br />
Ojeda is running against incumbent and fellow Democrat Art Kirkendoll in District 7 of the West Virginia Senate. He previously made an unsuccessful bid for a congressional district in 2014.<br />
Kirkendoll issued a statement wishing his opponent well — and condemning the sudden bloodshed.<br />
“I was informed that my opponent was physically assaulted and injured at a political function today. I do not now, nor have I ever, condoned violence,” the statement said.<br />
“It has no place in our political campaigns or in our communities. My and my family&#8217;s thoughts and prayers are with my opponent and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery.”</p>
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