Four women are accusing out Salt Lake City Council Member Eva Lopez Chavez of sexual assault. Lopez Chavez is running for Congress as a Democrat in Utah’s newly created First Congressional District.

The women include associates from her political career who all have or recently held jobs in politics. Each of them told their story to the Salt Lake Tribune, which was able to confirm some of the details.

Related

Ruby Rose accuses Katy Perry of sexual assault in shocking social media post

Lopez Chavez denies all wrongdoing and says she is “shocked by the allegations” and is “ready to submit to a polygraph test regarding these various allegations if requested.”

Lopez Chavez has been particularly critical of state Sen. Nate Blouin (D), one of her rivals in the congressional race, for posts he made between 2009 and 2015 that she says “trivialize[d]” sexual assault. Her alleged victims say that she is in no position to talk about the victims of sexual assault.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

One of the accusers is fellow Salt Lake City Council Member Victoria Petro. She says that she attended a wedding in September 2022 where Lopez Chavez was also a guest. She told the Salt Lake Tribune that Lopez Chavez grabbed her by the throat and “pushed me back against a pillar” and said, “The only reason I still f**k men is because a woman hasn’t shown me what I really want.”

Petro said that she pushed Lopez Chavez away and left. She said she later told Council Chair Alejandro Puy about the alleged attack, which he confirmed to the Salt Lake Tribune. Petro also said that Lopez Chavez once told her to stop telling her story to people, but that she responded that Lopez Chavez “shouldn’t have given me a story to tell. It’s my story.”

Lopez Chavez’s lawyer, Greg Skordas, says that Petro’s story is false and pointed to pictures showing Petro having a good time at the wedding and “smiling and laughing with others, including Eva” as proof that she is lying.

State Sen. Jen Plumb (D) says that Lopez Chavez also pushed her against a wall and grabbed her buttocks. She “got up in my face and said in my ear, ‘You’re sure you’re straight?’” Plumb said. “I just pushed her away. Come on. Knock it off.”

She said she didn’t tell anyone at the time, but is now coming forward because she thought about how she would react if someone did that to her daughter. Skordas denies that the encounter occurred.

State Rep. Hoang Nguyen (D) says she was giving Lopez Chavez a ride after a campaign event in 2022 when Lopez Chavez told her to pull over. “Next thing I know, she has leaned over, and she’s on top of me, holding my shoulders down,” Nguyen said.

“I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And she said, ‘Kiss me,’” she continued.

“She said, ‘I’m not going to get off you until you kiss me.’ I gave her a peck, and she got off.”

Nguyen told a friend about the alleged attack, which the Salt Lake Tribune confirmed with the friend. Skordas denied the allegations again, pointing to text messages between the women that were “friendly” and did not discuss any “inappropriate” conduct.

Campaign worker Maggie Regier is the fourth accuser, and they said that Lopez Chavez was being “flirty” with them at a Human Rights Campaign event in 2019. They tried to get away from Lopez Chavez, but she pulled Regier into a corner and pinned them against the wall. Another person walking by pulled them apart, saying, “Leave Maggie alone.”

Regier said they told their campaign supervisor, who also confirmed that Regier told him about it at the time. Regier also posted about Lopez Chavez’s actions on social media when she ran for city council in 2023.

Skordas also denied these accusations, saying that the two “played and laughed” at the 2019 event but that there was no “unwanted contact.”

“I need to be direct: The reports and firsthand accounts of Council member Eva Lopez Chavez’s past behavior cannot be dismissed or minimized,” Puy, the council chair, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “Based on my own firsthand knowledge and the experience of some of my colleagues on the council, they do not describe an isolated incident. They suggest a pattern of conduct that has affected colleagues in our own council, myself, and many others in our community, and has shaped our working environment.”

Lopez Chavez released a statement saying that she wants “a fair and independent investigation” and promised to participate in it, while denying wrongdoing.

The Utah Supreme Court ruled against the state in 2024 in a challenge to its congressional map, sending the case back to a lower court, which ordered the state to redraw its map. The previous map divided the Salt Lake City metro area between the state’s four congressional districts to dilute Democratic votes and ensure that all four members of the state’s congressional delegation were Republicans.

The First Congressional District in the new map is more likely to vote for a Democrat. People living in the new district’s boundaries voted 60-37 in favor of Kamala Harris in 2024.

Primaries in Utah are scheduled for June 23. There are at least 10 candidates in the district’s Democratic primary, according to Ballotpedia, including out state Sen. and marriage equality activist Derek Kitchen.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.