Explicit videos rocked her run for office. But this Virginia Democrat isn’t done with politics

Originally published by The 19th

In the thick of campaign season, Susanna Gibson seemed well on her way to clinching a competitive Virginia district on her very first run for office. For the nurse practitioner and mom of two, meeting the demands of campaigning came naturally.

Everything would quickly turn upside down with a series of phone calls followed by a news story in The Washington Post: Gibson had live streamed sex acts with her husband for an online audience, and a Republican operative had pointed reporters to recordings of it.

Gibson, a Democrat, ultimately lost her race for state delegate by just over 700 votes.

In an interview with The 19th, Gibson detailed the “horror” that she and her family experienced after the videos were publicized, the feeling that her privacy had been violated as images of her floated around the internet, and threats of harm and a frenzy of unwanted media attention arrived at their home. Gibson said the episode has given her a newfound sense of mission: advocating for digital privacy and digital consent to protect future women candidates from being attacked with sexually explicit content.