State Sen. Janeen Sollman said a man grabbed her glasses off her face and threw them into the bushes Saturday, Aug. 8, after disrupting a community forum at Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove for roughly 10 minutes.

Sollman, a Democrat who represents Hillsboro in the Oregon Senate, told OregonLive in an interview late Saturday that the man she identified as Pedro Garcia-Balderrama, 28, was verbally combative toward her and roughly a dozen members of the public in attendance. His stated grievances focused on data centers and immigration, Sollman said.

After about 10 minutes of disruption, Sollman said she stood and asked Garcia-Balderrama to sit down or leave.

"I thought he was taking a swing at me," Sollman said, describing the moment before he grabbed her glasses.

A staff member called Forest Grove police, who arrived as Garcia-Balderrama was leaving. Washington County Jail logs show he was booked on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct and harassment, both misdemeanors, then released. He was given a no-contact order and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday, Aug. 13.

Sollman characterized the incident as an act of political violence.

Garcia-Balderrama posted on Instagram about his TriMet ride to the event and separately about his three-hour stint in jail, but did not provide his own account of what happened at the forum. The Forest Grove Police Department did not return a request for comment, and Garcia-Balderrama could not be reached, according to OregonLive.

Data centers as flashpoint

The confrontation comes as data center development dominates local politics. The Hillsboro City Council voted July 27 to enact a 120-day moratorium on new data center and battery energy storage system applications after months of resident pushback. A June lawsuit by community leaders, farmers and businesses alleges the city and Washington County improperly issued approvals for data center developments qualifying for roughly $84 million in property tax breaks.

Sollman herself lost her May Democratic primary to union-backed challenger Myrna Muñoz, with data center opposition cited as a pivotal factor. It was the first Oregon incumbent legislative loss since 2018. After the primary, Sollman told OPB the criticism was "a totally unfair characterization of my record," saying opponents claimed she would turn farmland into data centers.

A DHM Research poll released Aug. 4 found 71% of Oregon voters have negative feelings about data centers and 66% support temporarily blocking new AI data centers.

Sollman remains in office through the end of her current term but will not return to the Senate in January 2027.

What's next

Garcia-Balderrama's court date is Thursday, Aug. 13. The Hillsboro Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on data center code amendments Aug. 26, with the City Council's first reading of proposed amendments set for Sept. 15.