UPDATE 5:00am: It looks like Howie might have found the culprit within the Ted Cruz campaign. A guy named Christopher Larimer works for Ted Cruz, and previously put a stunt like this together in Alaska. As outlined in a 2014 PBS article:
From the aritcle

Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.