If you’ve been reading the mainstream headlines about a recent pornography scandal in a Virginia state election, you might be under the impression that Republicans have collectively committed sex crimes against a Democratic female candidate.
An Associated Press article claimed in a headline that the GOP “leak[ed]” online videos of Susanna Gibson, a House of Delegates candidate for Virginia’s 57th district, having sex with her husband.
“Virginia election candidate responds after leak of tapes showing her performing sex acts with husband,” said CBS News.
The worst offender was the New York Times, which ran with the headline, “State House Candidate in Virginia Condemns Leak of Sex Tapes.”
The use of the term “sex tape” and “sex videos” gives the impression that Gibson was merely making raunchy home videos with her husband — when in truth, she performed live sex acts on a public porn website for tips.
Meanwhile, “leaked’ suggests the tapes were ill-obtained and shared without consent. Again, they were posted publicly on the internet by Gibson. The Washington Post, which was the first outlet to report on the videos, confirmed that a Republican operative tipped them off to their existence but noted that “the videos remained live on another non-password-protected site” and “at least two other publicly available sites displayed explicit still photos from the videos.”
Gibson and her legal team are naturally the ones shopping the victimhood trope to the media. In a statement, Gibson called sharing the videos “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.” Her lawyer, Daniel P. Watkins, accused those disseminating the videos of violating Virginia’s revenge porn law.
“We are working closely with state and federal law enforcement,” Watkins said.
It was already poor judgment to produce pornography with two kids at home and while running for public office (the videos didn’t stop until September 2022, months after Gibson announced she’d be seeking her party’s nomination). Lying about the circumstances of the exposure of the videos is yet another knock against Gibson.
While Virginia Senate president pro tempore Louise Lucas came out in support of Gibson, other Virginia Democrats have held their fire. They can’t be too happy that this information didn’t come to light until after the primary, when Democrats could’ve urged her to drop out and replaced her with a safer candidate.
The race in the 57th district is one that Spirit of Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s PAC, recently pointed out to me as a seat they feel is winnable. It was redrawn in 2022 and is a true toss-up politically.
Gibson’s opponent, David Owen, has responded to the scandal with pure class.
“Me and my team found out about this story today like everyone else,” Owen said in a statement. “I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign.”
