A local election candidate is making waves for a bizarre protest at a township meeting this week when he dressed up in martial arts gear and unleashed a series of flying kicks and punched through several of his own protest signs.

The man, identified in previous theatrical stunts as Will Thilly, is running as an independent for the Cranford Township Committee in New Jersey and has been railing against the mayor on taxes, development policy and civic unity.

Independent candidate Will Thilly performs a kung fu routine during a Cranford Township Committee meeting in New Jersey, kicking through protest signs as part of a staged demonstration. (CranfordTV35)

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About 45 minutes into the streamed meeting, Thilly approached the podium in his blue-colored gear, yellow belt and black headband and began clapping.

He then broke out singing “Eye of the Tiger” and asked the bemused crowd to join in.

That’s when two helpers on either side of the floor unfurled a sign that said “Unfair Taxes,” and Thilly proceeded to kung fu kick through it. One man in the crowd can be seen laughing, and another man held his head in his hands, while a despondent elderly couple got up and left.

But Thilly and his crew weren’t finished here.

His pals unfurl three other signs that said, “Closing Our Pools,” “Overdevelopment” and “Divisiveness,” with Thilly kung fu kicking through each of them.

The two men then unfurl another sign that says “Let Love Rule,” which was also adorned with hearts.

“Mr. Thilly, please address your comments to the township committee,” Mayor Terrence Curran can be heard saying.

Unfazed, Thilly then says, “This is love.” He walked toward it and the two men embrace him, wrapping him in the sign.

Independent candidate Will Thilly performs a kung fu chop during a Cranford Township Committee meeting in Cranford, N.J. (CranfordTV35)

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Moments later, Thilly took the microphone and aired his grievances to the mayor, accusing him and the township committee of mishandling a controversial 30-year PILOT tax-exemption deal for a 250-unit apartment complex.

“You also voted for the 30-year tax exemption and PILOT at 750 Walnut on Oct. 8 last year. Then, this July, you said you never voted for that deal, that I was lying,” Thilly said.

“The fact that you, our mayor, cannot remember that you voted for the single largest financial deal and loss in our town history is grounds for that agreement’s annulment. … This is the real reason our taxes are going up so much.”

He alleged that the agreement costs the town millions in lost revenue and contributes to rising property taxes, claiming officials have “censored” meetings and canceled a candidates’ debate “for the first time in history.”

Fox News Digital requested comment from Curran but did not immediately receive a response.

Thilly isn’t new to theatrics. Last month, a video of the independent candidate breakdancing at another meeting went viral, drawing more than 1.6 million views, according to CBS News New York.

Independent candidate Will Thilly gestures toward a banner that says “Let Love Rule” during a Cranford Township Committee meeting in Cranford, N.J., Oct. 21, 2025. (CranfordTV35)

In that appearance, Thilly moonwalked across the floor and performed a backspin before using his allotted five minutes to complain about rising taxes, according to CBS News New York.

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“We were told the referendum was gonna bring it up for an average household about $400, I think, and mine went up like 900 bucks,” Thilly said, per the outlet.

After his speech, he moonwalked out.

Curran dismissed that stunt as “completely a distraction,” per CBS.

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

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During an appearance this week on “Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh” podcast, Mamdani defended his proposals to raise the corporate tax rate, shift more of the tax burden to “richer and whiter neighborhoods” and add a flat 2% income tax on earners making over $1 million — insisting his plan wouldn’t drive anyone out of the state. His critics, including Independent mayoral candidate and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, disagree.

“The same people who will say, ‘Oh, we can’t afford free buses. We can’t afford $700 million a year in making the slowest buses in America fast and free –'” Mamdani began during a discussion about how to best use political capital to benefit New Yorkers, before he was interrupted by the host of the podcast, Andrew Schulz.

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New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani laughs with hosts on “Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh” podcast that aired on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. ( (CREDIT: Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant w Akaash Singh; Oct. 22, 2025))

“I don’t agree with that, I think you can. I also think this idea that New Yorkers are going to flee because of a 2% increase,” Schulz interjected. “It’s like, ‘I’ve been everywhere else. You’re not going anywhere.’ Bill Ackman’s not going nowhere, he’s going to be in the Hamptons all summer.”

“There’s only one place to write those tweets – New York City,” Mamdani shot back as the group laughed amongst each other, referring to conservative billionaire Bill Ackman’s active presence on X slamming his campaign and liberal New York policies.

“Your A/C goes out in July, in Miami, he’s sweating writing tweets? There’s no way,” Schulz continued, before Mamdani chimed in amid all the laughter: “He’s spending more money against me than I would even tax him. Every day, it’s like a million dollars, a million dollars … you’re going above-and-beyond.”

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani speaks during an interview on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” at Fox News on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in New York City.  (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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Cuomo, who is running as an Independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary, told Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” this week that Mamdani’s democratic socialist policies would drive up taxes and push people to flee the city.

“You keep taxing businesses and wealthy people in New York City, there will be nobody left,” Cuomo argued. “Well, Mamdani is a socialist Democrat, his answers are always the same — tax business, tax the rich, raise taxes, raise taxes, provide everything free. Free transportation, free food. Free, free, free,” Cuomo continued. “New Yorkers know there is no free.”

And Cuomo isn’t alone in this assessment.

From left to right: Andrew Cuomo; Zohran Mamdani. (Photographer: Angelina Katsanis/AP)

“The threat of people leaving high tax, high crime jurisdictions like New York and other places is real,” Boca Raton, Florida’s Republican mayor, Scott Singer, told Fox News Digital.

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“It’s hard to predict how bad the economic situation is going to be, but Mamdani doubled down at last week’s debate and said it’s about time we raised taxes, and he was grateful for it,” Singer added.

“When he’s proposing a 17% marginal tax rate for New York City residents between state and local taxes, that’s 17% that they can simply give up by moving here and with jobs more mobile because of technology and with companies finding great office space here, there’s less and less reason for people to stay there.”

Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hayes and Andre Mark Miller contributed to this report.

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