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MIDVALE — No one was injured late Friday night when a truck plowed into the Midvale campaign headquarters of congressional candidate Burgess Owens, the candidate said on Twitter.
Owens' communications director Jesse Ranney confirmed the incident to KSL Sunday morning, saying he received a call late Friday night informing him there was “a truck sitting in the middle of our headquarters."
Thankfully, Ranney said, there was no one in the building at the time. "We were very lucky," he said. "People were in and out all day." But he said the office has been "completely destroyed."
"Everything in the office is pretty much gone — signs, shirts. It ruined everything."
Thankfully everyone is safe after a runaway truck drove into our headquarters. We're not slowing down! Still knocking doors, making calls and working nonstop!#ut04#utpolpic.twitter.com/UfOkGRx5hg
— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) September 27, 2020
Owens' post said the campaign is "not slowing down" despite the incident, still "knocking doors, making calls and working nonstop." Owens is running to unseat Rep. Ben McAdams, Utah's only Democrat in Congress, in the 4th Congressional District.
The race is anticipated to be very close, as McAdams won the seat in 2018 by less than a thousand votes.
Despite the heated political contest, though, Ranney said there's no reason to believe the campaign was targeted. Ranney said last he heard, police suspect an impaired driver.
Because the office was so devastated in the crash, the Owens campaign is now looking for a new headquarters for the home stretch of the race.
The Utah Republican Party on Twitter said its officials were "so sad" to hear about the crash, and "relieved" that no one was inside the building. "If you have the capacity to help," officials wrote, "please consider helping them replace the materials they've lost."