The Democratic candidate from Houston is accused of racist attacks against HIMSELF in a Jussie Smollett-style advertising campaign

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

Taral Patel, 30, has been running for Fort Bend County Commission District 3, a local seat on the outskirts of Houston, since last year.

Last September, he wrote a lengthy Facebook post that he combined with a collage of nearly a dozen derogatory posts attacking his race, ethnicity, religion and political views.

The collage contained comments that appeared to come from accounts that praised conservative Christian virtues and railed against immigrants—the names associated with most of the comments are blurred or otherwise obscured in the image.

Patel is said to have created at least one fake Facebook account, which he then used to write hateful comments against himself and his campaign before collecting them and turning them into a form of campaign advertising.

Patel’s lengthy response to the comments included: “I am always open to criticism of my political positions and stances on issues. However, when supporters of my Republican opponents choose to hurl #racist, #anti-immigrant, #hinduphobic or otherwise abhorrent insults at my family, my faith community, my colleagues and me, that crosses a line.”

“Fort Bend County’s diversity has made us all stronger, and these hateful images (a small selection is included here) stem from a deep and misguided fear – stoked by people like former President Donald Trump and today’s extremist Republican Party, who fear immigrants will ‘take their jobs’ and harm our own communities.”

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

It remains to be seen whether all the accounts in the collage were created by Patel to gain a specific type of support for his campaign.

At the time the post was published, the campaign team of Patel’s opponent, Republican incumbent Andy Meyers, reported that they had attempted to confirm the identities of the commenters but were unsuccessful.

Meyers believed that one of the names that was not completely redacted belonged to an account called Antonio Scalywag.

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

Ultimately, Meyers – who has held his current position since 1997 – asked the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office to take up the matter.

Based on a subpoena issued by the office, Scalywag was traced to Patel and the Democrat was subsequently arrested.

Andy Meyers, the incumbent Republican who has held office since 1997, asked local prosecutors to investigate some of the accounts posting hate comments about his opponent, which led law enforcement to Patel’s alleged crimes.

After the allegations against Patel, the number of commentators exploded.

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

“This is the classic script of a racist scammer. They even blame DONALD TRUMP,” wrote one angry observer.

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

Patel is charged with one count of internet identity fraud and another count of identity theft, the first a third-degree felony and the second a Class A misdemeanor.

He was released on bail last Thursday but has not yet made any public comments on the situation. His next court date is scheduled for July 22.

DailyMail.com has contacted Patel and his campaign team for comment.