A videographer from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign was impeded Friday as he tried filming Hogan’s opponent Ben Jealous in the November elections.
In the video, as Jealous is entering the Westin Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland for the Maryland Municipal League Gubernatorial forum, a young man can be seen repeatedly stepping in front of Hogan campaign videographer, who tried to ask Jealous about raising taxes on the middle class.
At one point, the young man, who the Hogan campaign says is affiliated with the Jealous campaign, held his arm out to block the videographer’s path.
A staff writer for the Washington Informer, William J. Ford, filmed part of the encounter.
@BenJealous outside the hotel w/a few of his supporters. Behind in a white jacket, a young man w/@LarryHogan campaign gets held while holding a video camera. #MDpolitics @WashInformer pic.twitter.com/BRUWLA5MrS
— William J. Ford (@jabariwill) October 12, 2018
“It’s a public space, get your hands off me,” the videographer can be heard saying at one point in a video published by the Hogan campaign.
Hogan’s deputy campaign manager Doug Mayer told The Daily Caller he witnessed the incident. “When they got pretty close to the door, within five feet of the door, a Jealous campaign staffer who functions as his security guard or driver of some sort physically grabbed our campaign staffer, pushed him up against a concrete column.”
The man “had him like under his arm and around his head,” Mayer told TheDC. “It was like a half nelson.” (RELATED: Republicans Maryland Governor Larry Hogan Leads Progressive Ben Jealous By Double Digits)
Mayer also said that Hogan’s videographer was able to wiggle free, but it happened again.
“I’m pretty sure the Jealous campaign team, they huddled up, you could tell they were freaking out. I think they sent him home,” Mayer stated.
The Jealous campaign did not respond to calls for comment about the incident.
According to a poll published in the Baltimore Sun earlier this week, Hogan is up 18 points on Jealous with three-and-a-half weeks until election day.