Firebombed Orange County GOP office accustomed to scorn

The firebomb that gutted the Orange County GOP headquarters Sunday represented a first for local Republicans, but not the graffiti calling them “Nazi Republicans.”

As head of an active GOP organization in one of North Carolina’s most liberal counties, Orange County Republican Party chairman Daniel Ashley said such insults are nothing new.

“We get called a lot of things. At any events, we have people walk by and maybe call us ’Nazis,’ or we need to get out of town, things like that. Just basically making comments. We’re used to that in Orange County,” Mr. Ashley told reporters. “We’re a very, very small minority in this county.”

Democrats and unaffiliated voters outnumber Republicans by roughly 5 to 1 in the county of about 140,000 people, home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Even so, the Orange County Republican Party has fought to maintain a high profile in the community. Four years ago, local Republicans made a commitment to hold regular events and raise enough money to keep the office open all year, instead of just during elections.

In a twisted way, the firebombing of the Hillsborough headquarters comes as a “badge of honor,” proof that the party succeeded in making itself known, he said.

“We said if we were going to make inroads into a liberal county as Orange County, we had to have a presence 12 months out of the year, not just at the election time,” Mr. Ashley said. “So we made a concerted effort to raise funds, to do what we need to do to keep this office open 12 months of the year. And it’s really paid off.”

He added, “I think we’ve let people know that we’re here in town — because they want to run us out of town. And we’re not going anywhere.”

The plucky Republicans were back at work Monday, cleaning up and salvaging items from the fire and smoke resulting from a Molotov cocktail-style explosive thrown through the vacant office’s front window late Saturday or early Sunday.

Agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conferred Monday with local and state law enforcement as part of the investigation, but no arrests were announced.

Police blacked out the message “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” and a swastika spray-painted in black on an adjacent building.

“We are taking this incident very seriously and have significant resources at the local, state and federal level committed to this investigation,” Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton said in a Monday statement. “We continue to ask for anyone with any information to come forward.”

Both Democrats and Republicans, including the presidential candidates, were quick to condemn the attack.

North Carolina Republican Party chairman Dallas Woodhouse denounced the bombing as a “horrific, horrific attack of political terrorism,” while North Carolina Democratic Party chair Patsy Keever called it “outrageous.”

Several high-profile national Democrats, including Fox News political analyst Joe Trippi, started a crowdfunding site to raise money to help reopen the office. Within 24 hours, the site had collected $13,000, more than the $10,000 goal.

“As Democrats, we are starting this campaign to enable the Orange County, North Carolina Republican office to reopen as soon as possible,” said the post by David Weinberger, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

“Until an investigation is undertaken, we cannot know who did this or why,” Mr. Weinberger said. “No matter the result, this is not how Americans resolve their differences. We talk, we argue, sometimes we march, and most of all we vote. We do not resort to violence by individuals or by mobs.”

Orange County Republican Michele Nix thanked the Democrats, calling their effort “fantastic.”

In the meantime, the party is working out of a bus loaned by the Durham County Republicans.

The bombing comes at the height of a campaign season marked by high political passions and incendiary language.

Mr. Ashley cited Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s statement that “half” of the Republicans supporting her rival, Donald Trump, are “a basket of deplorables.”

“When I first saw [the damage], I thought about the other week I was called deplorable, I was called a deplorable person, and I thought, ’How in the world, what could this person right here be?’” said Mr. Ashley in a video posted on Facebook.

In addition to melting a telephone and printer, the fire damaged sample ballots and political yard signs for candidates such as Mr. Trump and congressional hopeful Sue Googe.

With early voting starting Thursday, however, Ms. Nix said the party plans to use any signs that remain readable.

“We’ve got a lot of signs that have been damaged, but you know what, we’re going to use them as a reminder of what has happened here,” said Ms. Nix in a video posted on Facebook, adding, “Everything that was lost has been campaign material, so we’re going to salvage as much as possible and use it.”