Heads of campaign signs broken off outside an early voting site

Vandals target image of white state attorney candidate in Broward and his Black wife

A campaign sign featuring life-sized pictures of a candidate for Broward state attorney and his wife outside the West Regional Library early voting site was vandalized in a way that caries racist overtones.

The heads were chopped off pictures of Joe Kimok, who is white, and his wife, Jordanne, who is Black. The heads were mounted on metal stakes next to the decapitated campaign sign in Plantation.

The vandalism was discovered Sunday morning about 9 a.m., when the second day of early voting began in Broward County, said Kimok campaign manager Phillip Jerez, who provided pictures of the scene. He said the campaign did not report the incident to the police.

The timing suggested it happened overnight, after the end of the first day of early voting and before the beginning of the second day of early voting.

The campaign called it a display of hatred. But, Jerez said by text message, “There’s no way to tell if it was racially motivated or not. Joe and Jordy are just glad their kids aren’t old enough to see or experience it.”

The original campaign sign was a family portrait of Kimok, his wife and their two children.

Rosalind Osgood, an elected member of the Broward County School Board — who is supporting a different candidate, Harold Pryor, for state attorney — was not as circumspect.

Osgood, who is Black, said the vandalism unquestionably carries racist messaging.

“It’s hate. It’s racist,” Osgood said. “This is what the Klan used to do to Black people. We all know what it is. They can’t lynch people anymore.”

Osgood said it’s emblematic of what she said shows up too frequently in American life. “The racism that’s in people’s hearts is really coming out and

coming to the forefront today,” she said. “We all need to wake up and realize that our children deserve better.”

Kimok is one of eight candidates running in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary for the nomination for state attorney.

He’s running as a progressive candidate who promises to shake up the criminal justice system.

The office has been occupied for decades by Mike Satz, who was first elected in 1976. Broward County is so Democratic that the winner of the primary is virtually guaranteed to win a four-year term as Satz’ successor.

Kimok’s mailers lean directly into issues related to race and the criminal justice system. In one, which shows Kimok, his wife — holding a Black Lives Matter sign — and one of their children, the candidate outlines priorities of dismantling systemic racism, holding police accountable for racial profiling and violence and ending mass incarceration.

His candidacy has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive candidate who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020 and by entertainment superstar John Legend.

“Joe and Jordy won’t be deterred. They have and will continue to run an unapologetic campaign based on their values that Black lives matter. Across every corner of the county, Joe is fighting for safer communities for all of our families and won’t be distracted by these displays of hatred,” Jerez said by text message.

PHILLIP JEREZ/COURTESY The heads of Broward State Attorney candidate Joe Kimok, who is white, and his wife, who is Black, were chopped off a campaign sign outside the West Regional Library early voting site.