Photo: Susanna Gibson campaign page
A Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate had previously performed sex acts with her husband on a live streaming website for "tips," the Washington Post reported on Monday (September 11).
Screenshots of Susanna Gibson, 40, on the legal live webcam website Chaturbate were shared with the Associated Press following the Washington Post's initial report. Gibson said the sharing of her past videos a violation of law and her privacy, referring to the sudden leaks as "the worst gutter politics."
"It won't intimidate me and it won't silence me," Gibson said in the statement obtained by CBS News. "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."
Daniel P. Watkins, an attorney for Gibson, cited a 2021 Virginia Court of Appeals ruling that deemed it unlawful for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during a consensual sexual encounter regardless of whether he intended to show it to other people.
"A criminal act has occurred here, and that's the dissemination of revenge porn by a Republican operative," Watkins said via the AP.
Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two, won the Democratic primary in June and is running against Republican businessman David Owen in the 57th District in what has been a hotly contested off-year legislative race with large amounts of spending and interest. Democrats currently control the Senate by a four-vote margin, while Republicans have the same advantage in the House of Delegates with four seats currently vacant.
More than a dozen videos posted under Gibson's Chaturbate account were archived on another website in September 2022, the same month she announced her campaign, with the most recent archived on September 30, 2022, according to CBS News.