Voters swiped left on swinger and amateur pornographer Susanna Gibson on Tuesday.
The Democrat faced calls to suspend her campaign after it was revealed that she raised money performing sex acts on the pornographic website Chaturbate, criticism she refused to take lying down. Still, she lost by a narrow margin to Republican David Owen, who will serve as delegate for Virginia’s 57th district in 2024.
Gibson’s defeat suggests her political career reached a climax on Tuesday evening. Voters in Virginia were less likely to try new things than Gibson hoped, opting for conservative businessman Owen’s message of bringing "common sense" to the Richmond-area district that includes Goochland County. Virginia's safe-for-work Democrats faired better than Gibson, holding the State Senate and taking control of the House of Delegates.
After recordings of Gibson’s performances—in which she would have sex with her husband under the moniker "HotWifeExperience"—became an electoral liability, the Democrat quickly went on the offensive and accused Republicans and media outlets of circulating "revenge porn." Both she and her attorney promised a law enforcement investigation, although no charges were ever filed.
"Yeah, you can watch me pee. Let me block a few people and then y'all can watch me pee if you tip me and some tokens again I'm raising money for a good cause," she said in one Chaturbate session, uploaded to a third-party website on Sept. 5, 2022. The Washington Free Beacon has published the entirety of an uncensored opposition research document, featuring links to the videos, here.
Virginia Democrats distanced themselves from Gibson, who earned the "Family Friendly Seal of Approval" from the left-wing Family Friendly Virginia, in the final stretch of the campaign. Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who endorsed Gibson prior to media reports about her pornographic past, said he only "met Ms. Gibson once."
Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) said, "I don’t really know her that well."
During at least one performance, Gibson said both she and her husband, attorney John David Gibson, were in an open marriage that allowed them to have outside sexual partners.
"I’ve had three in a day actually. Don’t tell my husband he was the third. I would say ethically non monogamous but I guess that three in one day was not," Gibson said in the same Sept. 5 performance. "I would just say I love men and I love sex and he comes in here so I fucked the guy that I had been fucking and we are still friends."