A Massachusetts Senate candidate filed a federal lawsuit on Sunday against Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s hometown for the right to keep displaying campaign signs calling her a “fake Indian.”
The Washington Times reported Monday that independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai accused the city of Cambridge of violating his freedom of speech.
Ayyadurai was reportedly told to remove two campaign signs showing Warren wearing a Native-American headdress with the tagline, “Only a real Indian can defeat the fake Indian.”
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“This is a political vendetta by city officials who are supporters of Elizabeth Warren,” said Ayyadurai, who is a native of Bombay, India.
Cambridge building inspector Branden Vigneault said in an April 5 letter that his department has received “a series of anonymous complaints” about the signs.
According to The Washington Times, the identical signs were posted on either side of a school bus parked in front of a building Ayyadurai owns.
Vigneault determined the signs violated a city zoning ordinance and were posted without a permit.
“These signs must be removed immediately,” Vigneault said in a letter released by the Ayyadurai campaign. “Failure to do so, may result in fines up to $300.00 dollars per day and legal action.”
Ayyadurai said the signs in his parking lot are not subject to the building code.
“We will not remove the slogan from our bus,” Ayyadurai said. “We will defend the First Amendment, and we will fight this egregious attack on the First Amendment, at any cost.”
Ayyadurai previously sent Warren a DNA test kit on her birthday to poke at her claim that she has Native-American ancestry.
The Washington Post noted in 2016 that there’s “no official documentation” of Warren’s claim to be of Native-American descent, which she has said is based on family stories she heard growing up.
Warren, who is seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2020, is a frequent target of President Trump, who has repeatedly called her “Pocahontas.”
The Massachusetts Senate race is not considered competitive, with election forecasters viewing Warren as a virtual lock for reelection in the deep-blue state.