Virginia Republicans send explicit "18+ only" ad attacking candidate for sex videos
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The Republican Party of Virginia is sending voters in Henrico County a political mailer labeled "explicit" and "18+ only."
What's happening: It's the party's first major swing at Democratic House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson over live sex videos she streamed with her husband on the website Chaturbate.
- Inside the sealed envelope are screenshots and quotes from the videos.
Why it matters: A Republican operative initially brought the videos to light, per the Washington Post, which first reported their existence in September. But until now, prominent Republicans have largely avoided commenting, calling it a family issue.
- The race between Gibson and Republican David Owen is one of a handful of swing districts expected to decide control of the Virginia House of Delegates.
What they're saying: "This candidate's personal life is something that that candidate needs to explain to people and the Democratic party needs to have to have an opinion on this," Gov. Youngkin told NBC12, which first reported on the attack mailer.
The other side: Democrats in the House called it "a desperate attempt to distract and deflect from how many of their candidates are on the record wanting to ban abortion."
- Gibson, a nurse practitioner making her first run for office, previously denounced the publicity surrounding the videos as "gutter politics," and her lawyer has argued their distribution could be viewed as a violation of Virginia's revenge porn laws.
It's unclear when the videos were first streamed, but they appeared online on websites that archive Chaturbate streams last year in the month after Gibson announced her candidacy, per the AP and Washington Post.
Of note: In a copy of the two-page mailer obtained by Axios, the screenshots of Gibson are not explicit. But the quotes from the videos are.
- Among other things, the flier includes quotes attributed to Gibson asking for viewers to pay to see her perform specific sex acts with her husband.
- The flier also includes a family photo of Gibson and her husband with their two young children, whose faces are blacked out.