{"id":1776500,"date":"2022-12-15T13:18:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T18:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1776500"},"modified":"2022-12-15T13:18:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T18:18:47","slug":"virginia-democrat-jailed-after-affair-with-teen-he-then-married-seeks-open-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-democrat-jailed-after-affair-with-teen-he-then-married-seeks-open-house-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Democrat Jailed After Affair With Teen He Then Married Seeks Open House Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginia-democrat-jailed-after-affair-with-teen-he-then-married-seeks-open-house-seat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1776500&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Virginia state lawmaker who went to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and later married his 17-year-old victim\u00a0is running in a special election to replace a congressman who died late last year, according to Federal Election Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/cgi-bin\/forms\/H2VA04151\/1672406\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">papers<\/a> filed Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>State Sen. Joe Morrissey\u2019s entry in the race to succeed Rep. Don McEachin has raised eyebrows in a state where Democrats have battled the perception that they are soft on the sexualization of children, following controversies including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/loudoun-superintendent-spokesman-criminally-indicted-in-rape-coverup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Loudoun County rape<\/a> and efforts to bring graphic sex education to young schoolkids.<\/p>\n<p>Morrissey, a twice-disbarred lawyer, was indicted in 2014 on a slew of charges resulting from his alleged affair with a 17-year-old staffer. Charges against Morrissey, who was in his fifties at the time, included four felonies: supervisory indecent liberties with a minor, electronic solicitation of a minor, possession of child pornography, and distribution of child pornography, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc12.com\/story\/25906280\/grand-jury-indicts-del-joe-morrissey-for-relationship-with-teen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NBC-12<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>The girl worked as a part-time clerk at his law office and had listed her age as 22 on her job application, but prosecutors believed that Morrissey knew she was younger when they had sex, the outlet said. He took a plea deal that resulted in a conviction for one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and six months in jail, the outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc12.com\/story\/27615650\/del-joe-morrissey-agrees-to-plea-deal-in-teen-sex-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The girl became pregnant and she and Morrissey got married.<\/p>\n<p>Morrissey\u2019s brush with the law won\u2019t be the only issue to give pause to conservative parents.\u00a0In 2020, he was the only Senate co-sponsor of a bill that could have caused parents to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/virginia-democrat-bill-would-criminally-prosecute-parents-who-dont-affirm-their-kids-as-transgender\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lose custody<\/a> of their children if they did not \u201caffirm\u201d their transgender identities. It redefined the term \u201cabused or neglected child\u201d to include one whose parent \u201cinflicts\u2026 mental injury on the basis of the child\u2019s gender identity or sexual orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year, its House of Delegates sponsor, Elizabeth Guzman, described her intent to try again with a similar bill, explaining to local news that it would make it a crime not to affirm gender identity. Guzman told WJLA that \u201cIt could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David Gordon, a Republican political consultant who founded the Virginia Project, said the prospect of Morrissey receiving a promotion shows that \u201cchild exploitation is not an obstacle for Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven his history, I was very surprised to see him double down on the sexual exploitation of children by cosponsoring the notorious Guzman child abduction bill,\u201d Gordon told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>If Morrissey wins the congressional seat, it would not be his first special election victory. Following his conviction, Morrissey resigned his seat as a state delegate, triggering a special election\u2013then entered that race as an independent and won, casting votes in the General Assembly while still serving time on work release.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2019 election, he won a state Senate seat as a Democrat, and \u201chas since made criminal justice reform a signature part of the legislation he has introduced,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/richmondfreepress.com\/news\/2022\/jan\/20\/scandal-scarred-sen-joseph-joe-morrissey-pardoned-\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond Free Press<\/a> reported. Former Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned Morrissey as one of his last acts in office this year, the paper said in January.<\/p>\n<p>Morrissey did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia\u2019s Fourth Congressional District, centered around Richmond, is a heavily black and Democrat area where the winner of the Democrat primary will be the presumed winner of the congressional race. The Democratic Party will choose its nominee through a <a href=\"https:\/\/vademocrats.org\/news\/fourth-congressional-district-democratic-committee-releases-voting-details-for-december-20-2022-firehouse-primary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cfirehouse primary\u201d<\/a> run by the party on December 20, where Democrats can vote at one of five locations, such as a union hall and a Baptist church. The special election will be February 21.<\/p>\n<p>Alexsis Rodgers, chair of the Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee, did not return a request for comment about Morrissey\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Morrissey is known for being a maverick not only for his unconventional personal life, but also for his refusal to vote according to party orthodoxy, making him one of the more moderate Democrats in the Virginia Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Virginia state lawmaker who went to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor is running for Congress in a bid to replace Rep. Don McEachin, who died in office leading to a special election. His entry in the race has raised eyebrows in a state where Democrats have tried to fight off the perception that they are sexualizing or endangering children, following controversies like the Loudoun County rape and efforts to bring graphic sex education to young children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":1776503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[9348,6202,4912,3653,9349,9350,5839,3814,9351,5468,6195],"class_list":["post-1776500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-affair","tag-daily","tag-democrat","tag-house","tag-jailed","tag-married","tag-seat","tag-seeks","tag-teen","tag-virginia","tag-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1776500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1776503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1776500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1776500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1776500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}