--- title: Brass Knuckles Attack on West Virginia Senate Candidate description: A West Virginia State Senate candidate is hospitalized, awaiting surgery following an attack with brass knuckles. canonical: https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-09T14:29:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:23:02.886Z article:section: Politics og:title: West Virginia Senate Candidate Attacked with Brass Knuckles og:description: Richard Ojeda is hospitalized in the trauma unit, awaiting surgery. og:url: https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: West Virginia Senate Candidate Attacked with Brass Knuckles twitter:description: Richard Ojeda is hospitalized in the trauma unit, awaiting surgery. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # West Virginia Senate Candidate Hospitalized after Brutal Brass Knuckles Attack  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 9, 2016 2:29 PM UTC  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 9, 2016 2:29 PM UTC A West Virginia State Senate candidate is hospitalized in the trauma unit and awaiting surgery following [an attack with brass knuckles](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-state-senate-brass-knuckles-attack/) at a political picnic. Richard Ojeda received numerous broken bones Sunday when a man hit him seven to eight times using brass knuckles. Jonathan Porter allegedly approached Ojeda, asked for a bumper sticker and then knocked him out while Ojeda applied it to his [pickup truck](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/west-virginia-state-senate-candidate-veteran-brutally-beaten-n570271). Afterwards, Porter allegedly tried to run Ojeda over but bystanders had intervened, CBS News reports. Police arrested Porter after he turned himself in Sunday evening. Authorities have not reported a motive, but Porter faces three felony charges. Ojeda, a military veteran, is scheduled to have surgery later this week. He would like to get back to campaigning [by Tuesday](http://www.tristateupdate.com/story/31920292/west-virginia-candidate-in-hospital-after-attack) during the primary election. \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-state-senate-brass-knuckles-attack/)\] Brass Knuckles Attack on West Virginia Senate Candidate ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/"},"headline":"West Virginia Senate Candidate Hospitalized after Brutal Brass Knuckles Attack","datePublished":"2016-05-09T14:29:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:23:02.886Z","description":"Richard Ojeda is awaiting surgery in the trauma unit after the attack at a picnic","url":"https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/","keywords":["Crime","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4322736/west-virginia-senate-brass-knuckles/","name":"West Virginia Senate Candidate Hospitalized after Brutal Brass Knuckles Attack"}}]}] ```