According to eyewitness accounts, Samson, a defense attorney from Nahant, entered MassGOP offices demanding to take staffers' photos. When asked to leave, the masked Samson then demanded to know why staffers weren't wearing masks inside their offices, calling it "a violation of the state mandate."
According to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Samson has donated to several Massachusetts Democrats and Democratic causes, including giving $500 to Attorney General Maura Healey in 2019 and $100 to the Nahant Democratic Town Committee in 2014. The Federal Elections Commission reports that Samson in 2021 alone donated almost $10,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $8,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and more than $2,500 to the nonprofit Stop Republicans progressive turnout project, among others.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons was not at the office at the time but thanked the Woburn Police Department for quickly dispatching an officer to the scene.
Lyons also questioned the timing. Only hours before the incident, Gov. Charlie Baker announced that the statewide mask mandate for Massachusetts public schools will be lifted at the end of the month.
"People are done with the government overreach," Lyons said. "They want to be able to live their lives normally again, and people like this individual who threatened my staff today are obviously distraught over the likelihood of that happening.
"Republicans are for giving people their lives back and somehow that's what prompts left-wingers like our unannounced visitor to call us 'fascists.'"
The next MassGOP campaign training event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Watertown Marine Corps League. An updated schedule and sign-up page can be accessed by clicking here.
