Walker Valley got a taste of the heated 2024 presidential election with a very public act of vandalism. Over the weekend, five white capital letters spanning about the size of an 18-wheeler were spraypainted on the roadbed of a section of Route 52: T R U M P.

The graffiti is located down the road from the Sunoco, traveling west. Two smaller tags with the same word – one in red, the other in white – bookended the graffiti, a few yards down the road on either side. The red lettering has faded considerably but the bright white wording remained on the street until yesterday. It drew mixed reactions from nearby residents.

“The tagger clearly felt empowered to deface a public roadway under the cover of darkness, which allows for no recourse,” said John Glagola, a resident who reported the tag to Shawangunk Journal. A nearby homeowner told Glagola he thought that the operation was “impressive and ambitious.”

“I think it's pretty benign. No one's bleeding, no one's hurt. Let them do it,” said lifelong Walker Valley resident Bob Sweetman.

“It doesn’t bother me,” said another lifelong resident in response to Sweetman. “None of us have any problem with it.”

“I would ask everyone not to deface public property, even in these times of polarization, and also to consider the safety aspect,” said Craig Lopez, Ulster County legislator for Walker Valley and the Town of Shawangunk. “You don’t want to be responsible for an accident because someone got distracted by what you wrote on the road.”

Town Supervisor Ken Ronk Jr. echoed that sentiment. “No one should deface roads this way,” he said. “There is a danger inherent in anything painted on a highway.” Ronk called on everyone across the political spectrum not to engage in these acts of vandalism.

A resident who asked not to be identified by name said, “I don’t know anything about it, but I do get the feeling that this is a very Trump-y area.” In 2020, 60 percent of voters in the Town of Shawangunk, which includes Walker Valley, voted for Donald Trump for president.

The state Department of Transportation is currently in the process of painting over the graffiti, they told Shawangunk Journal yesterday.