The race to run B.C.’s second-biggest city is getting uglier.

Surrey mayoral candidate Barinder Rasode has filed a police complaint after finding 50 of her campaign signs defaced overnight.

She’s had many other signs damaged since her campaign began, with a total replacement cost of $40,000.

“The signs aren’t going up as fast as they’re being damaged. My sons are staying up until midnight trying to repair the damaged signs,” said Rasode, who’s leading the One Surrey team.

Just last week, vandals singled out candidates of South Asian descent on signs for both the Surrey First and Safe Surrey campaigns.

The Safe Surrey camp was hit with an additional attack this week when a fake Twitter account under its name tweeted a bogus campaign video.

The American-style ad, shared through the anonymously-run Safe Surrey Team account, paints an unflattering picture of the city, highlighting homelessness, crime and illegal dumping.

“Surrey is rife with neighbourhoods where no God-fearing man would step. When the criminals outnumber the law-abiding, we need someone to step up,” it says.

The video ends with a shot of former mayor and current candidate Doug McCallum – though his campaign manager insists the ad was not their doing.

“We have no association. We don’t know who it is, don’t know their motivation,” Jonathan Ross said.

Safe Surrey has launched a complaint through Twitter, though social media specialist Dave Teixeira doesn’t think it will do much good.

Teixeira pointed out that the Safe Surrey Team account was registered two years earlier than the real Safe Surrey one, which could hurt the case to shut it down.

He does think the confusion caused by the account could do damage, however.

“Impersonation online can truly hurt a campaign, especially a campaign like we have here in British Columbia for the municipal election, which is a very short timeframe," he said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro