Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson has blasted her opponents for "the worst gutter politics" after the Washington Post reported that she was performing sex acts online for cash.
Gibson, a 40-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of two, streamed various sex acts on 'Chaturbate,' where more than a dozen videos of she and her husband were archived on a publicly available site, Recurbate, in September 2022 after she entered the race. The most recent were two videos archived Sept. 30, 2022, however it's unclear when the live stream occurred.
Gibson called the controversy "an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me," adding "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 CNN in a Tuesday statement.
"My opponent and his allies know that the people of this district are on our side on the issues, so they’re stooping to the worst gutter politics," Gibson continued. "There’s too much at stake in this election and I’ll never stop fighting for our community."
Democrats in 2003: “Stay out of our bedroom!”
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) September 12, 2023
Democrats in 2023: pic.twitter.com/IkGdnugpxt
Gibson's political opponent in the race for the House seat, GOP businessman David Owen, said his campaign learned about the videos on Monday "like everyone else."
"I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign," Owen told WaPo.
The Republican operative who alerted The Post to the videos denied any connection to the Owen campaign or other groups active in Virginia elections this year. The operative provided the information on the condition of anonymity to avoid being drawn into the controversy.
Gibson's Chaturbate profile, "hotwifeexperience," had 5,770 followers and was active after having announced her candidacy in July 2022, where she uploaded at least one image of herself a month later.
She would perform various sex acts for said followers, who she repeatedly encouraged to pay her in "tokens" in exchange for private showings - and told her fans that she was "raising money for a good cause."
Gibson has lawyered up, and her attorney, Daniel P. Watkins, says that videos circulating of her are a violation of Virginia's revenge porn law, which makes it illegal to "maliciously" distribute or or sell nude sexual images of another person with the intent to "coerce, harass, or intimidate."
"We are working directly with federal and local law enforcement to hold the wrongdoers accountable and to protect Mrs. Gibson’s rights as the victim of a crime," Watkins told the Post, citing a 2021 VA appeals court ruling that determined that it was illegal for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during consensual sex, even if that video was never shared with others.
According to Gibson, the scandal "won't silence me."
Me looking for your expectation of privacy as a public figure posting your sex acts on the Internet for money. pic.twitter.com/eaA7jFHbTT
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 12, 2023