The first time someone called P.J. Marley\u2019s in protest, a 16-year-old employee picked up.<\/p>\n
From the host stand of the beloved burger joint, he could see the tranquil town square of Medina, Ohio, with its gazebo, twinkle lights and flapping American flags. But on the phone, the caller was screaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said something,\u201d the teen told his manager afterward, \u201cabout pedophiles?\u201d<\/p>\n
He could not remember everything the caller said, but he remembered that word, the one that so many people would use to insult the restaurant in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever dining there, vile pedophile supporters,\u201d a woman from a nearby county wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cGross that they chose to give pedophile protectors a platform,\u201d a local woman posted.<\/p>\n
The onslaught began in late October, when the Ohio Republican Party announced that a group of candidates who were traveling the state in a big red bus would stop at P.J. Marley\u2019s on the Saturday before the election. One of them, Vivek Ramaswamy, who was running for governor, had just released an ad in which the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, called her a liar.<\/p>\n
Left unsaid was that when Ms. Acton was 12, her stepfather was charged with raping her, and her mother took the stepfather\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Patty and Jon Stahl, the P and J behind P.J. Marley\u2019s, had agreed to host the candidates before the much-criticized ad was released. They were known around town for raising four sons, volunteering in the local schools and transforming a 122-year-old bank into a tavern. They thought the ad was in poor taste. But as small-business Republicans, they believed in Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s pitch that he could lower property taxes without harming schools, and thought he could find a way to bring down their rising electric bills.<\/p>\n
The couple insisted that holding an event for the Republican ticket was not about taking a side; they would have agreed to host Democrats, too, they said. \u201cPeople were saying, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re giving Vivek a platform,\u2019\u201d Mr. Stahl said. \u201cI looked at it as he was giving us a platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as the ad kept airing and the calls kept coming, what had felt like a good decision for their business and for civil discourse had instead become yet another battle in America over which side had the moral high ground.<\/p>\n
The politicians and pundits who obsessed over the ad and its meaning would move on once the election was over. But as the uproar in Medina would show, the wounds it exposed would not easily heal.<\/p>\n
Other businesses that had agreed to hold events for Mr. Ramaswamy were canceling. The Stahls needed to decide if they would, too.<\/p>\n
An Inescapable Issue<\/p>\n
\u201cHi Patty, I know it\u2019s been a while,\u201d Stacey Bene typed. She\u2019d just seen a Facebook post about how the candidates were coming to P.J. Marley\u2019s. She\u2019d taken Jazzercise classes from Mrs. Stahl more than a decade earlier, and had said, \u201cI know the owners here\u201d every time she returned to P.J. Marley\u2019s for a bacon burger.<\/p>\n
Now, in hopes of persuading Mrs. Stahl to back out of hosting Mr. Ramaswamy, she was going to tell her something she rarely spoke about. In a private Facebook message, she wrote, \u201cI was raped at the age of 14.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the election season, the subject of physical and sexual abuse had felt almost inescapable in Ohio\u2019s 7th District. In the congressional race, there were ads accusing Representative Max Miller, a Republican, of abusing his ex-wife and toddler, and ads in which he denied the allegations. In the Senate race, there were ads accusing the Republican incumbent, Jon Husted, of taking money from associates of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in jail.<\/p>\n
But it was Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s ad that bothered Mrs. Bene, a retired social worker, the most, she said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot separate you from the messages you are allowing to be spread at your facility,\u201d she wrote to Mrs. Stahl.<\/p>\n
It felt as if everyone in town were taking sides. Loyal customers were declaring they\u2019d never again set foot in P.J.\u2019s or the Stahls\u2019 second restaurant. Conservatives who had never been to their establishments said they would now seek them out. A woman whose daughters both worked at P.J. Marley\u2019s for years called for a boycott, which led someone else to call for white liberal women to be deported. A prominent Democrat who knew Mr. Stahl well defended him on Facebook, saying, \u201cremember that people are more than their politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stahls deleted every negative comment posted to their social media pages, and remained publicly silent.<\/p>\n
Then the county Democrats announced plans for a protest outside the restaurant. In Medina County, where 62 percent of residents had voted for President Trump in 2024, Democrats were accustomed to being outnumbered.<\/p>\n
Kellie Biegel, who lives around the corner from P.J. Marley\u2019s, had been in a decade-long feud with her neighbor. The more Trump signs her neighbor acquired, the more pro-liberal signs Ms. Biegel put up.<\/p>\n
One day this summer, she realized that all of her neighbor\u2019s signs were gone. Ms. Biegel asked her to come over. They hugged. Hoping to ease the years of tension, she did not bring up politics.<\/p>\n
But when Mr. Ramaswamy arrived in town on Oct. 31, Ms. Biegel knew where she would be.<\/p>\n
The town square, which had served as a backdrop for a Gilmore Girls festival and a few rom-com movies, was filled with about 200 protesters. A video truck displayed an image of Mr. Ramaswamy and the question, \u201cWhat kind of man runs this ad?\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the protesters stuck to the square, where a massive sign declared, \u201cKINDNESS WILL WIN.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Ms. Biegel joined a group near P.J. Marley\u2019s back patio, shouting directly at customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere they are,\u201d she yelled as she livestreamed. \u201cPedophile supporters!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018How Can You Work for Them?\u2019<\/p>\n
Every seat inside P.J. Marley\u2019s was filled. Some customers said they had come to hear the candidates; others just wanted to show support for the Stahls.<\/p>\n
The couple had taught their sons that when you make a commitment, you stick to it. They planned to put out a statement expressing their belief in free speech and open dialogue, and saying that candidates and customers of all beliefs were welcome in their restaurant.<\/p>\n
But after more and more disparaging messages dinged on their phones, they never posted it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing we say at this point is going to make them happy,\u201d Mr. Stahl said.<\/p>\n
Inside the restaurant, he could not see the protesters. Ramaswamy aides had papered over the front windows with campaign signs. The thick walls of the former bank stopped the protesters from being heard. But every time an employee stepped outside, they got screamed at, too.<\/p>\n
Anthony Buchanan, a bartender at the restaurant, stepped out through a side door to get fresh air. One protester kept yelling to him, \u201cHow can you work for them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Buchanan thought of what he could have snapped back: \u201cIf you\u2019re honestly asking me that, you\u2019re not aware of the way that life is. I\u2019m a third-grade teacher. I work two jobs. I\u2019m just trying to get my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, he went back inside and served craft beers while the candidates made speeches about the dangers of what would come if Republicans were not elected.<\/p>\n
\u2018Never Give Up\u2019<\/p>\n
At 5 a.m. on the day after the election, Mr. Stahl grabbed his phone from his bedside table and checked the results.<\/p>\n
Democrats had swept nearly all the statewide races in Ohio. None had flipped Medina County, although Mr. Ramaswamy had won it by a much smaller margin than Mr. Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n
It had been nearly two weeks since the calls and messages started coming to P.J. Marley\u2019s, and they had not stopped, even after the event was over. But the Stahls did not regret their decision. Their business had not appeared to suffer, and in their minds, they had shown everyone that they would not be bullied.<\/p>\n
It did bother Mr. Stahl, though, how many customers and acquaintances had disparaged him online without ever directly talking to him.<\/p>\n
Then again, he\u2019d stopped talking back. Once he\u2019d decided not to post a statement, he had not replied to a single message or email.<\/p>\n
After getting out of bed, he took his phone to a chair in his living room and searched for a video of Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s concession speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough race,\u201d Mr. Ramaswamy said. \u201cIt was bitter at times, in both directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
But now it was time, he went on, \u201cto bring Ohio together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Mr. Stahl watched Ms. Acton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe healing begins today,\u201d she said. \u201cWe must never give up on one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Facebook, there was a new message notification.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh well,\u201d someone had written. \u201cYou ruined your business over a loser!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Stahl tapped the name of sender and clicked block.<\/p>\n
Kitty Bennett contributed research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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