House candidate allegedly found posting sex acts with husband online

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -A Democratic candidate vying for a House of Delegates seat is under criticism after videos were allegedly found of her performing sex acts with her husband for tips.

The Washington Post was the first to report about several videos it says show Susanna Gibson and her husband performing sexual acts on a live website called Chaturbate. She neither confirms nor denies the online activity but calls the entire situation an invasion of privacy.

Gibson is running against David Owen in the 57th District, which encompasses parts of Henrico and Goochland counties. With less than 8 weeks until election day, The Post says these live Chaturbate broadcasts were recorded and put onto another website. Allegedly, Gibson, in the videos, is asking viewers for tips to perform certain acts.

The newspaper was tipped off by a Republican operative, who is said to have no ties to Gibson’s opponent.

Gibson’s released the following statement in response to the report:

“This is an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family. It won’t intimidate me, and it won’t silence me. 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. They are trying to silence me because they want to silence you, and I won’t let that happen. 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. There’s too much at stake in this election, and I’ll never stop fighting for our community.”

Gibson’s opponent, David Owen, released the following statement after hearing about Gibson’s videos being shared:

“My team and I found out about this story today, like everyone else. I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign.”

Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two, says this won’t force her out of the race. Her campaign attorney told The Post the leak is a crime, calling it revenge porn.

“If you look at the numbers, the parties are almost tied there. In a good Republican year, they carry it by a little bit and in a good Democratic year, they carry it by a little bit,” said Larry Sabato with the UVA Center for Politics. “You just don’t know.”

Sabato says in the age of Donald Trump, it’s hard to say how this will impact voters.

“10 to 20 years ago, this would have eliminated a candidate from consideration,” he said. “Today, I doubt it has at all much effect.”

Sabaot said years ago, parties would have tried to cut ties with a candidate, but already, Democrats have turned to push for donations to Gibson’s campaign fund.

“I just don’t know. I think we’ll have to watch and see, but it’s not disqualifying that much is obvious.”

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