Houston Democratic candidate is accused of racist attacks against HIMSELF in Jussie Smollett-style promotional campaign

A Democratic candidate for local office in Texas was arrested last week on charges of a racist attack he allegedly committed against himself.

Taral Patel, 30, has been running for Fort Bend County Commission Precinct 3 — a local position in suburban Houston — since last year.

Last September, he wrote a lengthy Facebook post that he paired with a collage of nearly a dozen disparaging messages attacking his race, ethnicity, religion and political leanings.

The collage included comments that appeared to be from accounts extolling conservative Christian virtues and protesting immigrants; the names associated with most comments are blurred or otherwise unclear in the image.

Patel is said to have created at least one fake Facebook account, which he then used to write hateful comments targeting himself and his campaign before collecting them and turning them into some sort of campaign promotion.

Patel’s long-winded statement on the comments reads in part: “I am always open to criticism of my policy positions and positions on issues. However, when the supporters of my Republican opponents decide to hurl #racist, #anti-immigrant, #Hinduphobic or otherwise disgusting insults at my family, religious community, colleagues and me, it crosses a line.

“The diversity of Fort Bend County has made us all stronger, and these hateful images (a small sample attached here) come from a place of deep and misplaced fear – fueled by the likes of former President Donald Trump and today’s extremist Republican Party, who fears that immigrants are “taking their jobs” and are out to harm our own communities.”

But last Wednesday, Texas Rangers arrested Patel after law enforcement officials allegedly linked at least one of the hate speech accounts directly to Patel.

It remains to be seen whether all of the accounts in the collage were created by Patel in an attempt to increase some type of support for his campaign.

At the time of the post, Patel’s opponent, Republican incumbent Andy Meyers’ campaign, reported that they were trying to authenticate the identities of the commenters but were unable to do so.

Meyers believed that one of the names, which was not fully redacted, belonged to an account named Antonio Scalywag.

That user, Meyers told authorities, had previously harassed him online.

Ultimately, Meyers — who has held his current position since 1997 — requested that the Fort Bend County district attorney investigate the case.

As a result of a subpoena obtained by the office, Scalywag was traced to Patel and the Democrat was subsequently arrested.

Republican incumbent Andy Meyers, who has held his position since 1997, asked the local district attorney’s office to investigate some of the accounts used to post hateful comments about his opponent, prompting law enforcement alleged crimes committed by Patel.

Commentators exploded in the wake of the allegations against Patel.

“Good morning Taral Smollett!” wrote one commenter, referring to the infamous hate crime hoax orchestrated by former Empire actor Jussie Smollett.

“This is such a classic racing scam script. You even blame DONALD TRUMP,” wrote one angry observer.

“As my Indian mother taught me (yours clearly didn’t): ‘Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.’ You are a disgrace to our community and should be banned from holding any public office for life. Enjoy your offense, Jaan,” he concluded.

Patel faces one count of online impersonation, and one count of misrepresentation: the former is a third-degree felony, the latter a class A misdemeanor.

He posted bail last Thursday but has not yet publicly commented on the situation. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Patel and his campaign for comment.