Democrats in Virginia are defending their candidate for a competitive statehouse seat against “desperate” efforts by Republicans to exploit her appearances on an adult porn website.
The state’s Republican party has admitted it sent out several thousand “explicit” flyers to voters in House district 57 containing still images reportedly of Democrat Susanna Gibson engaged in livestreamed sex acts with her husband.
The nurse practitioner and first-time candidate denounced as “gutter politics” the publication of a report last month that the couple had performed on the pornographic website Chaturbate in exchange for electronic “tips”. Videos of their encounters were archived last year, according to a Washington Post report, although it is unclear when they were shot.
The mailings, marked “Warning: explicit material enclosed” and “Do not open if you are under the age of 18”, also contain censored quotes from Gibson, according to Richmond’s NBC12 news channel.
A statement from her campaign denounced both the messaging and timing of the mailings, barely two weeks before election day in her closely contested race with the Republican David Owen.
“David Owen and the Virginia GOP are trying to distract voters from their extreme agenda to ban abortion, defund schools and allow violent criminals to access weapons of war,” it said.
“Voters are tired of these desperate attacks, and they will not be fooled by them. Nothing will ever deter her commitment to our community.”
The seat could prove crucial in Republicans’ efforts to secure a majority in both houses of the commonwealth’s general assembly, and embrace the extremist policies of Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin, who favors a 15-week abortion ban.
Currently, Democrats hold a narrow advantage in the state senate. Republicans recaptured a slim advantage in the house of delegates in 2021.
The Virginia Democratic party’s house caucus issued its own defense of Gibson, questioning Republicans’ motives.
“The Maga [Make America Great Again] Republicans can’t help themselves from showing their true colors. This is a desperate attempt to distract and deflect from how many of their candidates are on the record wanting to ban abortion,” it said in a statement.
“Let’s not forget, David Owen is the same guy who was caught on camera saying he wanted to change the makeup of the general assembly to institute said ban. The VA GOP can’t be trusted and this continues to make that clear.”
Owen’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, NBC12 said.
Rich Anderson, the chair of the Virginia Republican party, told the outlet: “Gibson’s campaign has falsely alleged that the videos of her publicly engaging in sexual activity on publicly accessible pornography websites were ‘leaked’ by Republicans. In reality, the opposite is true.
“The mail piece corrects her false statements using already published mainstream media news accounts and Gibson’s own public words as documented via her videos.”
Youngkin told the station he had not seen the mailers, but felt Gibson should be held accountable. “This candidate’s personal life is something that that candidate needs to explain to people, and the Democratic party needs to have an opinion on this,” he said.
