A 19-year-old Democrat running for a state House seat in Kansas has dropped out of the race after recently narrowly defeating a seven-term incumbent in a primary.
Aaron Coleman admitted prior to the primary to sharing a nude photo of a girl online when the two were in middle school. He still won the primary by 14 votes. That admission, however, along with admitting to harassing other girls online and his father’s recent hospitalization, led to Coleman dropping out of the general election.
Coleman claimed he shared the nude photo of the girl seven years earlier because she wouldn’t agree to send him more nudes. The girl, now 20 years old, told The New York Times last week that she didn’t know Coleman when he made the threat to release her nude picture and believed he found her picture through Snapchat.
“I just don’t think he needs to be in a powerful position considering what he’s done to girls,” the woman, Kati Hampton, told the Times. “It’s good that he admitted to what he did.”
On social media, Hampton described what Coleman had done.
“He got one of my nudes and blackmailed me with it and told me if I didn’t send him more he would (send) it to all of my friends and family,” she wrote. “And when I didn’t send him more, he sent it to everyone I knew. I don’t know how he got the picture. All I know is he’s an awful person and he should not be allowed to run for anything.”
Coleman also did not dispute a report in the Kansas City Star detailing his harassment of girls when he was in middle school. One girl, who is now 18, told the outlet she attempted suicide due to Coleman’s abuse. She said Coleman was constantly “calling me fat, telling me to kill myself, like I’m never going to find anyone, like I’m worthless, just downgrading me every day.” The woman also said she “was just in disbelief that another man that doesn’t respect women is in power.”
A third woman told the Star that Coleman “harassed me for months, it got so bad that he found out my family’s home phone and wouldn’t stop calling it until we picked up.”
In an email on Sunday, Coleman wrote that he had decided to withdraw from the race, The Wyandotte Daily reported.
“After talking it over with my family and my supporters I have made the difficult decision to withdraw my name from the ballot as a Democratic nominee for House District 37,” Coleman wrote. “My father was recently hospitalized and in combination with the recent developments in the race it has put a significant strain on my family. Their wellbeing is too important to me to continue as the nominee.”
He also announced his intent to withdraw on Facebook.
“After talking with my family and my supporters, I’ve made the decision to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for HD 37 so I can focus on caring for my family. Now our party can pick a new nominee,” he wrote.
In addition to his prior harassment of girls, Coleman also came under fire for previous social media posts, one of which expressed the candidate’s desire for a former Republican state representative and radio talk show host, John Whitmer, to die from COVID-19.
“John, I’m going to laugh and giggle when you get COVID and die,” Coleman said on the post. “At least we can say you died doing what you love. Ask your buddy Herman Cain how it worked out for him.”
He also expressed satisfaction that former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain died from the virus. He also made a post endorsing abortion up to the minute of birth.