Congressional candidate's home vandalized with swastikas

The house of Peter Jacob in Union Township in New Jersey, who is running in the 7th District against Republican incumbent Leonard Lance, was twice vandalized with paintings of Nazi swastika.

Peter Jacob said at a press conference outside his house that the climate created by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was encouraging racism. â€˜The rhetoric that we are hearing nationally is trickling down.’

One of Jacob's neighbors first found two swastikas painted on the sidewalk outside Jacob's Colonial Avenue home Friday and called police.

On Monday morning two more swastikas were seen spray-painted next to a basement door on the back of the house. There was also neon orange-colored paint on the doorknob, which Jacob's campaign manager Josh Levin said could signal someone was trying to break in. 

The family has installed surveillance cameras around the house since the incidents.

, and the police department has increased its presence in the neighborhood. 

In a message Jacob said, ‘My family and I are okay, and have installed a state of the art security system.
Let there be no mistake, the people who committed this crime did so because they feel comfortable and confident to commit hateful acts due to an ever increasing atmosphere of accepted racism. 
We must work harder than ever to ensure that on November 8th, we do not let a man who has called for a ban on an entire religion, someone who has advocated for sexual assault, incest, and an attack on women's rights, in to office. But we cannot stop at the top of the ticket, his supporters, Leonard Lance-who has enthusiastically supported Trump since May, has created a vial atmosphere which fosters hate over love. 
We need to end this attitude and show the rest of the world that we are better than that. We must create a government that works of, by, and for the people. We have to work hard to ensure we have a representative that represents all of the constituents in the 7th.’

His father Jacob peter said this is the first time they face such a thing in  three decades living in Union. They are not scared and do not think that his son contesting the election was a mistake.

In a statement Monday, Lance called the swastikas ‘abhorrent’ and said he had asked to attend Jacob's press conference but was not welcome ‘due to his support of Donald Trump,’ according to nj.com. 

Jacob said he had not invited Lance because he did not want to make the press conference a political event. â€˜We as a community, we're standing together right now, and I am comfortable with this,’ Jacob told nj.com

Lance Chief of staff Todd Mitchell issued a statement about the vandalism: ‘The display of anti-Semitic hate symbols like the swastika is abhorrent. We join Peter Jacob in condemning this offensive act of vandalism and support a full police investigation into the matter.

‘We strongly reject, however, the Jacob campaign’s outrageously false race-baiting attacks against Leonard Lance and his supporters. These attacks from the Jacob campaign are untrue, irresponsible and politics at its worst.’