Cameran Rayner pulled his white dual-motor Model Y Tesla into a parking spot at the side of a Fresh Thyme on Sunday in Bloomington.
The line of Tesla superchargers in front of the car had been vandalized with foam earlier that week, according to The Bloomingtonian.
As of Sunday, only a slight sticky residue remained on one of the chargers. The rest appeared to be fully functional.
Rayner calls the sticker on the back of his car, which reads “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” his “mini-insurance.”
He bought his Tesla back in 2022. He said he was a “techie guy” who thought the car was the best choice at the time, and said his decision to buy one wasn’t politically motivated.
“I do not like the association of driving one right now,” Rayner said. “But I’m not willing to spend 20 grand to make a lateral move to an equivalent other brand just to make a political statement.”
The Fresh Thyme chargers are the only Tesla superchargers in Bloomington.
Their vandalism is part of a recent nationwide trend of damage to supercharger stations and Teslas. Chargers were set on fire in Massachusetts and spray-painted in Maryland. A Tesla car dealership in Colorado caught fire after Molotov cocktails were thrown at it.
“The way that I view it is that, yes, the guy who built it is a bad person, but doesn’t mean the product is necessarily bad,” Rayner said.
The Monroe County Republican Party released a statement on Thursday condemning the vandalism to the superchargers, as well as shattered windows at The Forge and The Mill, though it is unclear if the incidents were connected.
Wednesday night, glass windows and doors at the two buildings in the Bloomington Trades District were shattered. As of Sunday afternoon, the windows were covered with plywood and a section of The Forge was still taped off. The Bloomington Police Department is still investigating the incident.
“Tesla owners, regardless of who they voted for, are now victims of a climate of lawlessness,” the press release read.
The MCGOP called on the Monroe County Democrats to condemn the vandalism.
Tesla stock has fallen by over 11% by the time of publication in the past month. Elon Musk, spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, has cut hundreds of thousands of federal jobs and funding. Amid criticism his actions are unconstitutional, organizations including the United States Agency for International Development, the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs have faced cuts.
