Susanna Gibson, the so-called 'porn Dem,' lost the election for the Virginia House of Delegates Tuesday following the revelation of webcam videos showing her having sex with her husband. Republican businessman David Owen secured victory over Gibson by a margin of less than 1,000 votes, as indicated by the final election results.
Gibson's race garnered significant attention during the off-off-year elections on Tuesday she got embroiled in an eyebrow-raising scandal involving livestreaming sex acts with her husband for tips, making her race one of the most closely observed contests. Gibson, 40, a mother of two hosted several live webcam shows on the adult website Chaturbate, the Washington Post reported earlier.
Sex Scandal Weighs Heavy
In addition to the scandal, her district was among the seven most competitive in the state. Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin aimed to maintain control of the House of Delegates and potentially switch the Democratic state Senate to implement a 15-week abortion ban.
While Democrat Gibson lost, Republican Youngkin also faced setbacks. He lost control of the House of Delegates and was unsuccessful in flipping the state Senate. The outcome means a divided government over the next two years, hampering the advancement of any conservative agenda.
The race between Gibson and Owen was among the final contests to be officially determined.
In September, The Washington Post reported that Gibson, a nurse practitioner, and her husband, attorney John David Gibson, engaged in live-streamed sex acts on the website Chaturbate, a portmanteau for chatting while masturbating.
She attracted around 5,770 Chaturbate subscribers, from whom she continuously demanded additional "tokens" in return for specific activities during "private" showings.
In her words, she was "raising money for a good cause."
The circulating sex videos, according to Gibson's attorney Daniel P. Watkins, violate Virginia's revenge porn legislation, which makes it illegal to "maliciously" distribute or sell nude or sexual photographs of another person to "coerce, harass, or intimidate."
Over a dozen of those videos were found on a secondary website, Recurbate, in September 2022, and were uncovered by Republican operatives.
Too Costly for Her Career
In the recordings, Gibson can be seen soliciting 'tips' from viewers to request particular sex acts, which is against Chaturbate's terms and policies, which says: "Requesting or demanding specific acts for tips may result in a ban from the Platform for all parties involved."
In one video clip obtained by DailyMail.com, Gibson tells her husband: "Ill let you f*** me in the a** doggy style in a private room if someone wants to pay. That's the deal."
At another point she can be heard saying: "Y'all can watch me pee if you tip me and some tokens, again I'm raising money for a good cause."
In some of her other videos, she mentioned that she and her husband had explored the idea of "swapping" with different partners, emphasizing her stance as "ethically non-monogamous." However, she also noted that her husband wasn't comfortable with the idea of sharing.
In a statement, Gibson referred to the expose as "an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family."
"It won't intimidate me and it won't silence me," the candidate continued.
"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," Gibson said in a statement at that time.
Gibson leveraged her healthcare background to focus the race on abortion rights.
Leading up to Election Day, Virginia Republicans distributed mailers to district voters, reminding them of Gibson's X-rated scandal.
The mailers contained screenshots from Gibson's live-streamed explicit videos, accompanied by warnings such as "Warning: explicit material enclosed" and "Do not open if you are under the age of 18."
A statement from Gibson's campaign strongly criticized the actions of the Republicans. "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," it said.
"Voters are tired of these desperate attacks, and they will not be fooled by them. Nothing will ever deter her commitment to our community," the statement said.
