Photo: Susanna Gibson campaign page
Democratic Virginia House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson is reportedly down more than 10 percentage points in a recent poll conducted after reports that she previously performed sex acts with her husband on a live streaming website for "tips."
Gibson, 40, who is running to represent the 57th district, is reportedly trailing Republican opponent David Owen by a 49.5% to 38.9% margin, according to a Cygnal poll obtained by the New York Post on Tuesday (September 26). Gibson's unfavorability rating among district voters has reportedly increased from 12.5% to 45.2%, while her favorability rating has dropped from 28.1% to 27.3% from August to September.
The poll confirmed that 80% of respondents had "already heard about Susanna Gibson’s online business and behaviors," which received national news attention. Earlier this month, screenshots of Gibson on the legal live webcam website Chaturbate were shared with the Associated Press following the Washington Post's initial report on the matter.
Gibson said the sharing of her past videos a violation of law and her privacy, referring to the sudden leaks as "the worst gutter politics."
"It won't intimidate me and it won't silence me," Gibson said in the statement obtained by CBS News. "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."
Daniel P. Watkins, an attorney for Gibson, cited a 2021 Virginia Court of Appeals ruling that deemed it unlawful for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during a consensual sexual encounter regardless of whether he intended to show it to other people.
"A criminal act has occurred here, and that's the dissemination of revenge porn by a Republican operative," Watkins said via the AP.
Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two, won the Democratic primary in June and is running against Owen, a Republican businessman, in what has been a hotly contested off-year legislative race with large amounts of spending and interest. Democrats currently control the Senate by a four-vote margin, while Republicans have the same advantage in the House of Delegates with four seats currently vacant.
More than a dozen videos posted under Gibson's Chaturbate account were archived on another website in September 2022, the same month she announced her campaign, with the most recent archived on September 30, 2022, according to CBS News.