Rayla Campbell Describes Altercation at Trump Rally That Left Her With A Fractured Tibia, Mild Concussion, and Sprained Finger

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A Trump rally in New Bedford was winding down Monday when two anti-Trump young females got into a physical altercation with GOP congressional candidate Rayla Campbell, the candidate told New Boston Post.

Campbell posted a short statement about the incident on Facebook afterward, but she provided more details in a telephone interview Tuesday evening.

Earlier on Tuesday, a video emerged showing Campbell, a Republican from Randolph, who is a write-in candidate in Massachusetts’s Seventh Congressional District, in a dispute with two young women in a parking lot. Campbell said it turned violent when the two girls pushed her.

Campbell said the girls hit her when she was on the ground, as well, fracturing her tibia (which is the shinbone). Campbell also said she has a mild concussion and a sprained finger.

The video published online shows parts of the confrontation but not all of it. At times all three of the women involved make aggressive moves.

Campbell told New Boston Post that the problem started well before what video shows.

She said she attended a pro-Trump rally that took place near a Shaw’s Supermarket parking lot off Route 6 in New Bedford off of Route 6 in New Bedford near a Shaw’s parking lot, and that the two girls shown in the video drove past the group of Trump supporters several times and yelled racial epithets at her. She said the girls called her a “coon,” “race traitor,” “Uncle Tom,” and a “n*****.”

“They were echoing the same types of things Monica Cannon-Grant would say,” Campbell said, referring to the Black Lives Matter activist who in July recorded herself making a racially charged, vulgar tirade against Campbell, in part because Campbell is a black woman with a white husband.

Campbell said that the incident in the New Bedford video took place after the rally ended and she was getting ready to go home. Not many people were around at the time, she said.

“It was all good but when we got back to our cars, I take a couple more pictures with people and am loading up my car and then these girls come flying into the parking lot and block me in,” she said. “I take out my bullhorn. They’re screaming all sorts of vulgarities:  a n*****, a coon, a race traitor. I got my bullhorn, they got out of the car, and they proceeded to antagonize me.

“Some guy who was at the standout came to help me out and record what was going on. I was very grateful. He said he was remorseful for some of the language he used,” she added. “Tempers get high and people lose control, but these girls literally squared up on me. The first one got out of her car with the two fists ready — and then the passenger. I’m backing up. They’re calling me everything. I put my bullhorn down. She had been trying to take it out of my hand and use it as a weapon towards me. One of them pushed me then another one pushed me and that’s when the fight ensued.”

Campbell said that when she left, she drove herself up to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth because she wanted to be closer to home.

“As soon as I got into my car, that’s when the pain really kicked in,” she said. “Earlier, I had the adrenaline going, but that’s when I knew something was terribly wrong.”

Campbell said she filed a report with police at the scene before she left. She said police were provided with the license plate number of the car that girls were in.

Campbell said the altercation shows that the radical left is cowardly. She pointed to an incident in June in Fall River in which, according to police, an 82-year-old Trump supporter, Charlie Chase, was thrown to the ground and kicked in the ribs while holding a Trump sign.

“It shows what they’re about:  intimidation, violence, controlling the narrative, making African-Americans and the elderly afraid to go out and be proud Americans,” Campbell said. “That’s not what our country is about. They target me directly every single time. They pull in front of my car and use all sorts of vulgarities against me and yell ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and it’s like, ‘you just assaulted a black woman.’ They think everyone who supports the president is racist, but we’re just out there smiling and waving. These girls in the video said I didn’t know what it was like to be black but it’s like, they assaulted a black woman.”

Campbell said that she has had agitators show up at her events over the past few months. She mentioned two antagonists who attended a campaign event in July that resulted in the police being called. She said she has had run-ins with members of Antifa as well as far-left “yellow vesters,” who she said tried to assault her with bikes.

“They’re able to get away with it because most people won’t report on it — only a few will,” she said. “But they’ll amplify someone like Ayanna Pressley calling for chaos and unrest to continue in the streets. Then you have others like Maxine Waters saying to go find these people. You’re going to be sucked punched. You’re going to be attacked. I’m not going to let anyone scare me or trap me ever again.”

Even though she is in some pain, Campbell said she won’t stop campaigning. She said she wants her presence to send a message.

“We don’t have to be intimidated or be afraid,” Campbell said. “Yes, I was attacked, but it’s not going to define who I am or what my message is. I’ll stand strong. This is what God put me on this earth to do. It’s politics and I know it’s rough, but violence isn’t the key to anything. The children and parents who are responsible for this need to be held accountable. It’s time to start being a parent again and making sure your children are receiving a proper education in their schools.”

Campbell said that the girls in the video could have prevented the situation from happening and instead decided to start trouble.

“They shouldn’t have even come into the parking lot. We really need to stop this. These young adults need to be held accountable for their actions. If this happened to someone else, it’d be considered a hate crime,” Campbell said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for the New Bedford Police Department said police are investigating the incident, according to WBSM AM 1420 in New Bedford. The spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Read More: Video Surfaces of Alleged Assault in New Bedford on GOP Candidate | https://wbsm.com/video-surfaces-of-alleged-assault-in-new-bedford-on-republican-candidate/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

The link to the video showing part of the confrontation is available below.

[Editor’s Note:  The video includes physical contact and vulgar language.]