Will Virginia voters ignore a Democratic Party leader’s moonlighting porn star career and elect her in a critical district in Virginia?
With control of the swing state in the balance, all eyes are on Virginia voters as they head to Tuesday’s polls.
Of particular interest is the race between Susanna Gibson, the so-called “porn Dem” whose online sex videos rocked the Richmond suburbs race last month.
Gibson is running against Republican businessman David Owen in one of the state’s most competitive districts after all 100 seats in the House of Delegates were redrawn to conform with the 2020 Census.
Many political scientists wrote off Gibson’s chances after The Washington Post reported in September about her participation in livestreamed sex.
Over a dozen sex videos were posted to the pornographic Chaturbate website, where Gibson and her husband would reportedly perform live sexual acts in exchange for cash tips from viewers — a violation of the websites rules.
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.”
Gibson is also seen talking about her forcing her husband into an open, “ethical non-monogamy” relationship even though her husband “doesn’t like sharing.”
“Sometimes I have to though,” her husband said. “She makes me.”
But Gibson, a nurse practitioner, refused to withdraw from the race and has accused Republicans of dirty politics for exposing her videos.
Her campaign is focused on abortion, which Democrats said could be in jeopardy if Republicans gain control of the Legislature.
Republicans, in turn, have sought to remind voters of Gibson’s pornographic videos. The Republican Party of Virginia sent mailers to voters that contained screenshots. The envelopes warned recipients that explicit materials were contained inside and that minors should not open the envelope.
Gibson answered the GOP attacks to some extent Monday in an op-ed piece she wrote for the liberal website Blue Virginia, labeling her GOP attackers as “politicians who feel they have a right to know what goes on in our private lives and the power to control what we do with our bodies.”
The 57th District includes parts of Richmond’s western suburbs in Henrico and Goochland counties. The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project rated it the third most competitive of Virginia’s 100 House of Delegates districts, with only a very slight lean toward Republicans, based on recent voting patterns. Virginia voters do not register by party.
Republicans currently carry a narrow majority in the House of Delegates, while Democrats hold a slight majority in the Senate.
Youngkin has campaigned aggressively on behalf of Republicans in key districts, hoping that GOP control of the General Assembly will allow him to enact his legislative agenda.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article