MEQUON, Wis. — A Green Party candidate for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District was arrested for disorderly conduct with a hate crime enhancer following a road rage encounter in Mequon, according to police.
Police say 54-year-old, Matthew Arndt, from Mequon and a 40-year-old male from Mequon were involved in a road rage interaction on Mequon Road, which allegedly included obscene gestures and dangerous driving. Both males entered a parking lot near Mequon Road and Wauwatosa Road, where Arndt used profane language and made anti-Israel statements.
TMJ4 talked to the 40-year-old Mequon man who is from Israel about the encounter. He asked to remain anonymous for his safety.
The man said this started when he was driving his son to school. He says Arndt tailgated him, pulled up next to him, and began yelling at him over an anti-Hamas bumper sticker. He said the sticker was directed at Hamas, not Palestinians.
“It feels terrible. No one wants his kids to be exposed to hate, and this was all it was about. It was hate towards Israel, towards Jews,” the man told TMJ4’s Meryl Hubbard.
The man recorded the encounter and followed Arndt into a Mobil gas station parking lot off Mequon and Wauwatosa Road, where the confrontation continued.
TMJ4 asked why he followed Arndt into the parking lot, the man said:
“It's a good question. You know, I don't. I don't know why. I just could not let this go go past me. You know, I'm an Israeli. I don't think I need to take my head down when someone reacts like this in front of me or my kid.”
Arndt’s comments during the encounter included an abundance of profanity and remarks about Israel.
"That's horrifying to think that someone like this would be representing anyone," he said.
The incident drew reactions from candidates in the race for Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District, as well as the district’s current representative.
Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman said he had not seen the video of Arndt before TMJ4 contacted him.
“Well he’s an embarrassment to the entire state of Wisconsin, and I hope so far as this becomes news, it’s considered aberrant behavior,” Grothman said.
Democratic candidate Brad Smith also responded in a statement to TMJ4 News.
"The vitriol and vulgarity he used, particularly in the presence of a child, is unacceptable."
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Green Party released a statement addressing the incident, saying,
“The Wisconsin Green Party stands firmly for Palestinian human rights and an end to U.S. support for the war in Gaza... Shouting obscenities at someone in a parking lot doesn't advance that cause.”
Arndt released a statement:
"My delivery in this video was not my finest moment. I'll own that. What the video doesn't show is the full context of the encounter. I was followed, harassed, and repeatedly provoked until I finally lost my patience.
"I am the embodiment and personification of the anger and frustration that so many Americans feel toward the Israeli government, the neoconservative establishment, and a Congress that has repeatedly placed foreign policy interests ahead of the American people.
"I am angry about the endless wars, the staggering loss of innocent lives, the billions of American tax dollars spent abroad, and a political establishment that refuses to listen to the people it supposedly represents.
"And I am especially angry about efforts to deepen the integration of America's military and intelligence operations with those of Israel. I believe this growing entanglement threatens our national sovereignty, compromises our independence in foreign policy, and raises a fundamental question: Who ultimately decides when, where, and why American military and intelligence resources are deployed?
"Those decisions must belong to the American people and their elected representatives—not to a foreign government, not to defense contractors, and not to an unelected foreign policy establishment."
"Our military exists to defend the United States. Our intelligence agencies exist to protect the United States. Their missions must never become subordinate to the interests of another nation, regardless of how close an ally that nation may be
"What you witnessed was not my best moment. But the frustration was real, it was deeply felt, and I know I am far from alone in feeling it.
"I can apologize for losing my composure. I will not apologize for demanding that the United States remain a sovereign nation whose government, military, and intelligence agencies answer to the American people—and the American people alone."
