Democratic candidate Susanna Gibson has refused to step aside in a high-stakes election outside Richmond despite a scandal involving pornographic videos being discovered of her and her husband performing for money.
Gibson, a 40-year-old mother of two, accused Republicans of trying to “silence women” when it was discovered that she moonlights as an online porn star.
“It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me,” Gibson said about the scandal.
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“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,” she told The Washington Post.
The X-rated sex videos were posted to the Chaturbate website, where Gibson and her husband would reportedly perform sexual acts in exchange for cash tips from viewers.
Over a dozen videos were streamed live and in public, including after she had entered the race in 2022.
Gibson’s account on Chaturbate had videos showing Gibson and her husband, John David Gibson, at times looking into the camera and asking viewers for donations in the form of “tokens” or “tips” to watch them perform various sexual acts.
This is reportedly a violation of the website’s terms and conditions, which say, “‘Requesting or demanding specific acts for tips may result in a ban from the Platform for all parties involved.”
In one clip obtained by The Daily Mail, Gibson tells her husband, “I’ll let you f*** me in the a** doggy style in a private room if someone wants to pay. That’s the deal.”
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“Y’all can watch me pee if you tip me and some tokens – again, I’m raising money for a good cause,” she reportedly said in another clip.
Gibson is also seen talking about her forcing her husband into an open, “ethical non-monogamy” relationship, and said that her husband “doesn’t like sharing.”
“Sometimes I have to though,” her husband said. “She makes me.”
It is an explosive turn in a contest that will carry significant weight in determining the balance of power in the Virginia General Assembly. The race has attracted large amounts of spending and interest for an off-year legislative race.
Democrats control the Senate by a four-vote margin, and Republicans control the House of Delegates by the same margin, with four seats currently vacant. The parties are waging intense legislative battles as GOP rising national political star Gov. Glenn Youngkin looks to bolster his conservative agenda with full control of state government.
Gibson said that exposing the videos is “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.”
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Gibson’s attorney, Daniel P. Watkins, said that disseminating the videos is 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.”
“A criminal act has occurred here, and that’s the dissemination of revenge porn by a Republican operative,” Watkins told the Associated Press.
Watkins cited a 2021 Virginia Court of Appeals ruling that found it was unlawful for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during a consensual sexual encounter even if he did not show the video to other people. The court found that consent to being seen is not the same as consent to being recorded.
Gibson won a Democratic primary in June and is running against Republican businessman David Owen in one of the most competitve districts in the state.
“I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign,” Owen said in a statement.
A top-ranking Virginia Democrat immediately came to Gibson’s defense after the videos were reported by the Post.
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Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas wrote —
Today Glenn Youngkin’s team leaked videos of @SusannaSGibson to try to embarrass and humiliate her and they failed completely.
Now we are going to make this the biggest fundraising day of her campaign.
Retweet and donate here:https://t.co/LrP5VhDsb1
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) September 11, 2023
Garren Shipley, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Gibson and Owen are competing in the 57th District, an area that includes suburbs of Richmond in both Henrico and Goochland counties.
The district chose Youngkin by a 51.2%-to-48.3% margin in 2021, but in the 2022 congressional midterm elections, the split in the district was 50% Democratic to 49.1% Republican.
Gibson has said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade propelled her into the race.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article