He hounded her for dates, made unwanted sexual advances and touched her thighs on two occasions, she said.
He was a Dreamer, but it was her nightmare.
Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.), who describes himself as the first “Dreamer” elected to Congress, hounded his finance director for dates, made unwanted sexual advances and touched her thighs on two occasions during the 2016 campaign, she claims.
The accuser, identified only as Samantha by Buzzfeed, said Kihuen followed her to her car after a fundraiser on Feb. 6,2016, and told her, “You look really good, I’d like to take you out if you didn’t work for me.”
The 25-year-old told him she had a boyfriend before driving off, but that didn’t stop him from asking again, she said.
Kihuen also went on to ask whether she ever cheated on her boyfriend, and told her, “We should get a hotel room here,” during a meeting at the Aria Hotel, Samantha recalled.
Recounting the “humiliating” incident on Feb. 19, Samantha said Kihuen simply laughed when she rebuffed him.
On their way back to the campaign office that same night, Kihuen touched her thigh and asked her again whether she’d cheat on her boyfriend, she said.
Weeks later, Kihuen grabbed the back of her thigh while she tried to help him on the computer while he was making fundraising calls, she told Buzzfeed.
“I asked him what he was doing and he stopped,” Samantha said.
She left the campaign trail in April 2016, and Kihuen went on to defeat Republican incumbent Cresent Hardy.
The representative issued a statement Friday, saying, “The staff member in question was a valued member of my team. I sincerely apologize for anything that I may have said or done that made her feel uncomfortable.”
“I take this matter seriously as it is not indicative of who I am… I have spent my fifteen years in public service fighting for women’s equality, and I will continue to do so.”
He later added a statement saying, “But I want to make it clear that I don’t recall any of the circumstances she described.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who was previously criticized for her response to the sexual harassment allegations against Rep. John Conyers, called for Kihuen to resign on Friday.
“In Congress, no one should face sexual harassment in order to work in an office or in a campaign. The young woman’s documented account is convincing, and I commend her for the courage it took to come forward,” she said.
