In a race that will help determine which party controls Virginia’s House of Delegates, voters on Tuesday also will render a verdict on Susanna Gibson’s online sexcapades.
Mrs. Gibson, a Democrat running in the competitive 57th District outside Richmond, was revealed to have live-streamed sexual acts with her husband for money. The videos, that were streamed on the website Chaturbate, were requested by viewers who then paid her “tips.”
The sex show was put up before the 40-year-old nurse practitioner launched her campaign.
The House of Delegates is closely split between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans have 48 seats, while Democrats hold 46. There are six seats vacant.
Every seat in the General Assembly is up for grabs on Tuesday.
Mrs. Gibson is running against Republican David Owen. She is running on abortion rights, stricter gun control and education.
Her campaign was quick to denounce the sharing of the videos as “the worst gutter politics.” She said it violated the law and her privacy.
“It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me,” she said. “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.”
Her lawyer argued that the distribution of the videos could violate state laws against revenge porn.
Mr. Owen said he was “sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family” and that he remained focused on his campaign.
Some Democrats rallied to Mrs. Gibson’s defense.
State Sen. L. Louise Lucas wrote on X that the videos were leaked “to try to embarrass and humiliate her.” She led a fundraising drive in response to the scandal.
All was seemingly quiet on the sex scandal front until the Republican Party of Virginia last week admitted to mailing out thousands of sexually explicit political fliers. The mailers, which said, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18” on the envelope, contained papers with censored quotes and screenshots from Mrs. Gibson’s sex videos.
Her campaign told NBC News that the mailers were an attempt by Mr. Owen and the state GOP to “distract voters from their extreme agenda to ban abortion, defund schools, and allow violent criminals to access weapons of war.”
“Voters are tired of these desperate attacks, and they will not be fooled by them,” her campaign said. “From day one, Susanna has been focused on protecting reproductive freedom, fully funding our schools, and keeping our communities safe. Nothing will ever deter her commitment to our community.”
Republican Party of Virginia Chair Rich Anderson said that the “mail piece corrects her false statements” that Republicans were the ones who shared her sex videos.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, told NBC12 he had not seen the mailers.
“This candidate’s personal life is something that that candidate needs to explain to people, and the Democratic Party needs to have an opinion on this,” Mr. Youngkin said.