State Watch

Man accused of stealing bulldozer to tear down Biden signs in Florida

A man is facing charges of grand theft and trespassing after police say he stole a bulldozer from a construction site and drove around Haines City, Fla., destroying signs supporting former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) campaign.

Bay News 9 reported that 26-year-old James Blight told police he was drunk at the time and did not remember the incident. Residents told the news outlet that Blight stole signs from some houses and destroyed at least one resident’s chain-link fence, while destroying others on his rampage around town.

“This man came onto my property, took the two Joe Biden signs I had in my yard and them came back with a bulldozer to run down my fence,” said Adam Burgess, the town’s former vice mayor, in an interview with Bay News 9.

“He stopped traffic and cussed everybody out,” another resident told the news channel. “There were four signs on H Street, he took the front loader and dug them up.”

Representatives from the Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately return a request for comment.

Florida is seen as a key target of President Trump’s reelection efforts; he won the state over Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016 by just over 1 percent of the vote. A FiveThirtyEight average of polls in the state shows Biden with a lead of just over two percentage points.