Former Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman took to social media claiming police were called to protect her and campaign staff after they were “followed and threatened for 45 minutes by a man in a truck” in the Bridlewood subdivision in Gainesville.
Police reports and the homeowner involved tell a different story. On the evening of Friday, September 12, 2025, a Guzman campaign worker canvassing in Bridlewood for the Democrat’s reelection bid was confronted by a homeowner who said the community was private and had no-trespassing signs posted at all entrances.
When the campaign staffer did not leave, the homeowner called police. A second call came shortly after from the Guzman campaign office, this time reporting the homeowner. Officers responded and determined no crime had occurred.
Her claims come two days after conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a Utah college campus.
Campaign and Homeowner Accounts
Guzman is running to unseat Delegate Ian Lovejoy (R-Bristow, Nokesville) in November. She previously served in the Virginia General Assembly but lost her seat after redistricting merged her district with that of Delegate Luke Torian (D-Dumfries) in 2023.
The Guzman campaign has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Potomac Local is not naming the homeowner because police determined no crime occurred.
The homeowner told Potomac Local News the campaign worker denied wrongdoing and refused to leave. “I told him that I would call the police if he remained in the private community,” the homeowner said. “That was the end of the interaction. Later, I saw him still in the neighborhood, so I called the police.”
The homeowner, who described himself as “non-political,” said only the male canvasser was present. “I never threatened anything but to call the police if he didn’t leave the community,” he said. “I certainly never chased anyone for 45 minutes. I had a three-second interaction with him and told him he could not be in the community because of community rules. I didn’t even know who he was working for.”
The Bridlewood neighborhood association has taken a hard-line approach to soliciting due to the volume of complaints it has received from residents.
Both police and the homeowner deny Guzman was a party to the incident. “I only ever saw the young man; I never saw anyone with him,” the homeowner said. Prince William police Lt. Jonathan Perok confirmed Guzman was not involved. “To my knowledge, Ms. Guzman herself was not involved,” Perok wrote, later adding: “I can’t say she wasn’t in another part of the neighborhood, but she was not at the scene.”
Asked about Guzman’s social media post, the homeowner said, “She is trying to make people feel sorry for her, to make her look good. That’s pretty much what it is.” Guzman’s post ends with a self-heroizing statement: “We will not be intimidated. We will continue knocking doors, talking to voters, and fighting for our community.”
The homeowner said he had a nearly identical interaction with Lovejoy campaigners two weeks earlier, but that Lovejoy’s canvassers “thanked him for the information and left” without dispute.
He also said a police supervisor later told him the department would enforce the community’s no-trespassing laws. “The officer that came was young and was focused on the soliciting part, which campaigns are exempt from, but after speaking with a lieutenant, I was told the officer should have enforced the trespassing laws,” the homeowner said.
Legal Context
Campaign canvassers are generally exempt from local solicitation restrictions, but trespassing laws still apply. Official guidance from the Virginia Democratic Party instructs canvassers to respect no-trespassing signs because “it’s the law.”
A review of the county’s Parcel Mapper shows the roads and common areas within Bridlewood are privately owned by the Bridlewood Community Association, not public. The community has posted no-trespassing signs at all entrances.
Pattern of Unverified Claims
This is not the first time Guzman has faced questions about the accuracy of her public statements.
In February 2017, during a debate over the county’s participation in the federal 287(g) program allowing cooperation between local and federal immigration officials, Guzman told the Prince William Board of County Supervisors that police routinely stopped her because of her ethnicity. She claimed she was pulled over “at least once every other week” and questioned about her immigration status, including whether she had stolen her car. “I knew why I was being pulled over, it’s because I look like an immigrant,” she said.
In May 2020, during the fallout from the George Floyd protests, Guzman, then a sitting delegate, again cited racial profiling in a campaign newsletter. “Many people of color and I myself have been pulled over because police could not believe that someone who looked like us could live in the neighborhoods we do,” she wrote.
At the time, Prince William police denied racial profiling in traffic stops. Annual reports of police interactions do not show the pattern Guzman described. A review of Virginia court records shows only one traffic citation for Guzman, issued in May 2025. If the repeated stops she described did occur, they did not result in tickets or arrests. Guzman has not provided evidence to support any of her claims.
Election Day is November 4, with early voting beginning September 19.
