Republican Party of Virginia mails out thousands of explicit fliers about Susanna Gibson scandal

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Election Day in Virginia is two weeks away and Virginia’s Republican Party is now taking further steps to warn voters of the online sex scandal surrounding 57th District House Candidate Susanna Gibson.

Gibson is running as a Democrat against Republican David Owen.

The Republican Party of Virginia says it mailed out several thousand explicit political fliers to voters.

The envelopes read, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18,″ and “Warning: Explicit material enclosed.”

Inside the mailer, voters found two pieces of paper with censored quotes and screenshots from Gibson’s public porn livestream.

In these videos, she allegedly performed sex acts with her husband and asked viewers to pay them money.

Some 57th District voters told NBC12 off-camera it seemed a tad extreme to push out Gibson’s explicit content, even though it is something they say voters should know about.

Political Analyst Larry Sabato says two can play at this game.

“You know the old song, what goes around, comes around, applies doubly in politics,” Sabato said. “So, when you go there on scandals like this, you can be sure you’ve given justification to the other side to go there when they have scandals.”

Sabato says it’s unclear whether the fliers will hurt Gibson’s campaign.

“They have decided that this will benefit their candidate. You wonder whether perhaps a private survey indicated that Susanna Gibson was doing better than they expected her to because that is a very competitive district. it could even be said under certain circumstances it leans democratic,” Sabato said.

The Gibson Campaign released this statement:

“David Owen and the Virginia GOP are trying 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. 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.”

A spokesperson of the House Democratic Caucus echoed similar statements:

”The MAGA Republicans can’t help themselves from showing their true colors. This is a desperate attempt to distract and deflect from how many of their candidates are on the record wanting to ban abortion. Let’s not forget, David Owen is the same guy who was caught on camera saying he wanted to change the makeup of the General Assembly to institute said ban. The VA GOP can’t be trusted and this continues to make that clear.”

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans claim they are only trying to reveal the truth of the matter.

Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson statement:

“As stated in the disclaimer, it came from the Republican Party of Virginia. Gibson’s campaign has falsely alleged that the videos of her publicly engaging in sexual activity on publicly accessible pornography websites were “leaked” by Republicans. In reality, the opposite is true. After revelation of her very public acts, polling now shows her to be 11 points behind her Republican opponent. Additionally, her running mates, Schuyler VanValkenburg and Rodney Willett, have not condemned her actions. The mail piece corrects her false statements using already-published mainstream media news accounts and Gibson’s own public words as documented via her videos.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he had not seen the mailers but spoke about Gibson and the scandal that has followed her.

“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,” Youngkin said.

He proceeded to shift the focus away from Gibson and back on Owen.

“David Owen is a great candidate, he’s looking forward and he’s been very clear in what he’s going to do for Virginians, reign in the cost of living, lower taxes, support law enforcement, and stand up for educational excellence, and make sure that students have parents engaged in their lives,” Youngkin said. “That’s what our candidates are doing and if there’s a candidate that needs to explain something I suggest the candidate do it and the democratic party do it.”

NBC12 reached out to Owen’s campaign but did not hear back.

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