Congressional candidate says she was raped while repairing campaign signs

A Democratic congressional candidate in Arizona said Wednesday that she was raped by two men while repairing a campaign sign in August, revealing an alleged attack she said she initially kept secret out of shame.

Bernadette Greene-Placentia, who is challenging Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R) in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, said she was attacked and knocked unconscious in a parking lot northwest of Phoenix in the early morning hours of Aug. 14.

Greene-Placentia told authorities she was walking back to her vehicle after fixing a damaged campaign sign when two men approached her from behind and struck her in the head, according to a police report obtained by MS NOW .

According to the file, the House candidate recalled one of the attackers possibly making a politically charged derogatory remark during the attack, though she later acknowledged that she could not be certain what he said. Authorities have not established whether the alleged assault was politically motivated.

The former longtime haul trucker reported the alleged attack to the Maricopa County sheriff’s office on Aug. 31, more than two weeks after it occurred. She shared her account first with the Phoenix New Times , which published it Wednesday.

Greene-Placentia told the outlet she struggled to process what happened and initially did not want to report it because she was “embarrassed” and wanted to “forget it happened.”

She ultimately decided to speak publicly because she felt remaining silent conflicted with her campaign’s message of standing up for all Arizonans.

“I never imagined I would have to tell this story, but I know I am far from the only woman who has lived through something like this,” she said in a statement. “Too many survivors carry these experiences silently. I am speaking out because I want them to know they are seen, they are heard, and they are not alone.”

“Me coming forward is me taking my power back,” the Democrat said in a separate interview with MS NOW.

She won the Democratic primary in July with more than 65 percent of the vote. She is looking to unseat Hamadeh in a district he won by 13 percentage points in 2024.

The candidate said she has no plans to suspend her campaign but has stopped repairing signs alone late at night, a practice she previously did to avoid Arizona’s intense daytime heat.

“What happened will not silence me,” Greene-Placentia said in a statement. “I’m going to keep showing up, keep fighting for this community, and keep working every day to bring real representation to the people of CD8.”