Charlie Herbster (left), Julie Slama.Photo: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty; Nati Harnik/AP/Shutterstock
Amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted groping against Nebraska Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster, one state senator says she, too, was a victim.
Julie Slama was among eight women to tellThe Nebraska Examinerin a story published last week that Herbster, a leading contender in the GOP primary race, touched them inappropriately.
Herbster’s campaign has disputed these accounts and the politician himself has suggested on social media that the claims are the result of the “the establishment machine within my own party.”
He called the women’s stories “100% false,“according toThe Omama World-Herald. (Herbster did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for clarification or further comment.)
Ina statement released Thursdayafter the Examiner’s story was published, Slama said that the alleged incident had taken place when she was 22.
“Today’s Nebraska Examiner report about Charles Herbster sexually assaulting me in 2019, when I was 22 years old, is true,” she said, noting that she had not been the one to reach out to the news outlet — it was the reverse.
“When theNebraska Examinercontacted me about a witness account of my assault and the seven other women who shared their stories, I was not going to deny the truth,” she said. “I am not seeking media attention or any other gain, I simply was not going to lie and say it did not occur. I would request my family’s privacy be respected at this difficult time.”
Slama added in her statement that she had “indirectly referenced the assault in a February 2022 floor speech about She added that she had “prayed I would never have to relive this trauma.”
Slama latertweeted a photoof the dress she had been wearing the night, she claims, Herbster touched her. Her post was inn response to a comment from former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub.
In a statement last week, Herbster’s campaign manager denied the women’s accounts, calling the report “a political hit-piece built on 100% false and baseless claims.”
Slama is the only woman who accused Herbster to come forward publicly, with others saying they worried about their careers or the reactions of their churches or families. (Two told the Examiner they were still considering filing a police report.)
All of the women said they had expressed an interest in either beauty pageants or Republican politics or causes to Herbster before the incidents allegedly took place.
The accounts vary, though many are similar, with some of the women saying Herbster “placed himself in their exit path after events,” the outlet reports.
One of the women who accused Herbster of groping her told the Examiner she found it “terrifying” that the politician could “get away with it” without any repercussions.
“I’m scared for any young women that he would be dealing with in the future. Don’t send your daughters to work for this guy,” the woman said.
On Twitter last week, Herbster compared himself to both Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom have been accused of — and vehemently denied committing —sexual assault.
“I will not back down,” he wrote. “I am a fighter just like Justice Kavanaugh and President Donald J. Trump.”
source: people.com
