Utah Senate candidate Nate Blouin says he wants Utahns who disagree with him about his political stances to talk to him person — just don’t deflate his tires.
The Democratic nominee for the Utah Senate District 13 said his wife was about to go to work around 9 a.m. when she found two tires on their car were deflated. Shortly after, Blouin realized a campaign sign was missing from the yard of their Salt Lake City home.
“I don’t want to make allegations about things, but it seems likely when a campaign yard sign is taken at the same time you find some issue with your property, you know, there’s probably a connection there,” Blouin told The Salt Lake Tribune.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nate Blouin, a democratic candidate for Utah Senate District 13, talks with his neighbor Sept. 16, 2022. Blouin said someone stole an election sign from his yard and deflated two tires on the family car Thursday night.
The Utah Senate hopeful said he doesn’t believe the car tires were slashed, but were more likely deflated. The two deflated tires, Blouin said, were on the passenger side of the car, which was facing away from the house. He said he filed a police report to document the incident.
While the theft of campaign signs from yards is a common occurrence during election years, the mischief is relatively harmless compared to the potentially dangerous act of deflating car tires.
“If you have a disagreement, I’m easy to find,” Blouin said. “Reach out on Twitter, give me a call, send me a text or an email, and I’m more than happy to talk and hear those concerns.”
Shortly after the discovery Friday morning, Blouin took to Twitter, saying the behavior was unacceptable, regardless of who does it. He told The Tribune this isn’t the first or the worst instance of poor behavior in politics, but the modern state of politics rewards people’s bad behavior.
He said this kind of behavior is frustrating, and he believes it is modeled by elected officials who encourage people “to go out and take matters into their own hands sometimes.
“I think that’s completely unacceptable,” Blouin added.
Blouin resoundingly won his primary in June, winning over 75% of the vote. The district, which leans heavily toward Democrats, is made up of parts of Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake and Murray.
He defeated longtime state Sen. Gene Davis, who has since been suspended from the Utah Democratic Party following allegations of sexual misconduct by a former intern and campaign staffer.
Blouin faces Republican nominee Roger Stout in November’s election.
