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Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson blasted her opponents for engaging in “the worst gutter politics” after videos surfaced of her and her husband performing sex acts online for cash.
Gibson, a 40-year-old mother of two who is running in a hotly contested race to represent the state’s District 57, hosted several live webcam shows on the adult streaming website Chaturbate, the Washington Post revealed in a bombshell report Monday.
The nurse practitioner has since railed against her political opponents, accusing them of engaging in dirty politics.
She called the controversy “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me.”
“My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up,” Gibson told CNN in a statement on Tuesday.
“My opponent and his allies know that the people of this district are on our side on the issues, so they’re stooping to the worst gutter politics,” she added.
“There’s too much at stake in this election and I’ll never stop fighting for our community.”
Her opponent in the battle for the seat in the House of Delegates, Republican businessman David Owen, said his campaign learned about the videos on Monday “like everyone else.”
“I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign,” Owen told The Post in a statement.
The videos were posted to a publicly accessible archive on the website Recurbate in September 2022 after Gibson declared her candidacy, the Washington Post first reported.
Gibson apparently maintained her Chaturbate profile, called “hotwifeexperience,” after having announced her campaign in July 2022 — uploading at least one image of herself on the sex streaming site a month later.
She garnered some 5,770 Chaturbate followers — whom she repeatedly pressed for more “tokens” in exchange for certain acts in “private” showings.
She told her fans that she was “raising money for a good cause.”
Gibson’s attorney, Daniel P. Watkins, said the circulating videos are a violation of Virginia’s revenge porn law, which makes it a crime to “maliciously” disseminate or sell nude or sexual images of another person with the intent to “coerce, harass, or intimidate.”
“We are working directly with federal and local law enforcement to hold the wrongdoers accountable and to protect Mrs. Gibson’s rights as the victim of a crime,” Watkins, founder of Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch LLP, told The Post.
The lawyer cited a Virginia appeals court ruling in 2021 that determined it was illegal for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during a consensual sexual encounter — even if that video was never shared with others.
Gibson’s campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
It’s not clear if Gibson will remain in the race, although she said the scandal “won’t silence me.”
The Democratic Party of Virginia declined to comment on the controversy, as it works to regain the majority in the 100-member Virginia House.
Democrats control the Senate by a four-vote margin, while Republicans control the House of Delegates by the same margin, with four seats currently vacant.
The race has attracted significant amounts of spending from both parties, which are waging intense legislative battles as rising Republican star Gov. Glenn Youngkin looks to continue with his conservative agenda with full control of state government.
The state Republican Party and House Speaker Todd Gilbert did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on Tuesday.
The district voted in favor of Youngkin by 51.2% to 48.3% in 2021, but in the 2022 congressional midterm elections, the split in the district was 50% Democratic to 49.1% Republican.
With Post wires
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