--- 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](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 9, 2016 2:29 PM CUT  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 9, 2016 2:29 PM CUT 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/ "undefined") 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 "undefined"). 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 "undefined") during the primary election. \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-state-senate-brass-knuckles-attack/ "undefined")\] ```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"}}]}] ```