ATF investigators and a member of the Seattle Fire Department inspect burned Tesla Cybertrucks at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
State Democrats are expressing outrage after State Sen. Phil Fortunato, a Republican, introduced a controversial proposal on April 3 to include Tesla owners in the state’s hate crime protections.
Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, said in a statement that the proposal is a waste of legislative time “to protect owners of $40,000 cars,” instead of “focusing on finding solutions to balance the budget or addressing the human rights violations of the [Trump] administration.”
“Tesla owners are already protected by laws against property crime,” Conrad said. “Equating the destruction of property with the real violence faced by those targeted for the color of their skin or who they love is insulting on its face and exposes a deeply troubling worldview.”
Under current federal guidelines, hate crimes are defined as crimes motivated by bias against a person’s race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. These protections typically target individuals, not property crimes. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice reported nearly 12,000 hate crime incidents. Meanwhile, incidents of Tesla vandalism across the country have been documented at 51.