Second woman accuses Rep. Kihuen of sexual misconduct

A second woman has accused Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.) of sexual misconduct, The Nevada Independent reports.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Independent that Kihuen touched her thighs or butt in three separate incidents, and sent her hundreds of sexually suggestive text messages.

The newspaper did not reprint the text messages, per the woman’s request, but transcribed the contents of the messages.

{mosads}In one message, Kihuen asked the woman to come sit on his lap. In others, he asked her to spend the night at his place. The messages were sent throughout 2015.

One of the messages shared with the Independent showed Kihuen asking, “What color are your panties?”

When the woman refused to answer the question, he responded that it “makes me sad” and “my day can’t go on without knowing.”

The woman told the Independent that she denied and ignored his advances.

“I don’t think Ruben thinks what he did was wrong,” she told the paper. “Like, I think he just thought he was playing around, which, I don’t think he realized the position he probably put people in.”

Kihuen issued a statement to the Independent in which he did not confirm or deny the woman’s accusation.

“During my ten years in the Legislature, I dated several different women. Out of respect for their privacy, I won’t discuss my communications or any other details of those relationships,” Kihuen said in the statement.

Kihuen, who was elected to Nevada’s 4th District in 2016, has been accused by a former campaign staffer of unwanted sexual advances, prompting immediate calls of resignation from both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm. 

BuzzFeed News reported on Dec. 1 that Kihuen’s former finance director had accused the 37-year-old lawmaker of unwanted sexual advances and reported those allegations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Luján, the DCCC chairman, immediately called for Kihuen to step down. Within hours, Pelosi followed suit.

Kihuen has denied the allegations.

Other party leaders have suggested calls for Kihuen to resign earlier this month were premature, and were awaiting more evidence of misconduct before joining Pelosi in urging Kihuen to step down.