Wisconsin Green Candidate Arrested After Mequon Confrontation, Police Cite Hate Crime Suspicion
The congressional candidate acknowledged his language after a recorded confrontation. His arrest is not a conviction, and prosecutors had not yet filed charges in the latest local account.
Wisconsin Green Party congressional candidate Matthew Arndt was arrested in Mequon on October 8 after a road confrontation that police investigated as disorderly conduct with a hate crime enhancer. Local reporting said no charges had been filed or referred to the county district attorney as of October 9.
Arndt, 54, was running for the US House in Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District. A circulating video showed him shouting about Israel and identifying himself as a congressional candidate. The incident prompted condemnation from the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and a response from his party.
The police account and the video
Mequon police said the episode began at about 08:50 with alleged dangerous driving and obscene gestures. Both drivers then entered a parking lot, where police said Arndt used profanity and made statements about Israel. Local coverage reported that police characterised the incident as antisemitic.
The video captured denunciations of Israel, profanity and a call for a free Palestine. Those visible statements provide part of the record, while the full police report, body camera footage and an unedited recording were not available in the material reviewed.
The other driver and his child are private individuals. Their names and identifying details are not needed to explain the arrest or the allegation. The relevant location for this account is Mequon, not a description that could identify the family.
Arndt’s response
Arndt said the circulating video did not show the complete context and argued that the other driver had followed him into the parking lot. He acknowledged that he could have chosen better words but maintained his position on Israel.
His response distinguished hostility toward Israel and Zionists from hostility toward people. That is his explanation of his conduct, not a legal finding about its motive. Police suspicion and the candidate’s denial both remain part of the account.
The party response and the legal position
The Wisconsin Green Party reaffirmed its support for Palestinian rights while saying that shouting obscenities at someone in a parking lot did not advance that cause. It said it would await the police report. The Milwaukee Jewish Federation condemned the behaviour as hateful and intimidating.
A hate crime enhancer concerns the alleged motivation accompanying an underlying offence. It is not, on its own, a conviction or a separate established finding that a hate crime occurred. Prosecutors would have to decide whether to bring a case and what allegations the evidence supports.
The latest local report available from October 9 described an arrest without filed charges. That leaves the case at the investigative stage, even as the recorded remarks and Arndt’s continued candidacy make it a matter of public interest. Any later prosecutorial decision would be a new development.
