Rachel Crooks, a Democrat who has accused President Trump of kissing her without her consent in 2005, said she is running for a seat in the Ohio state legislature.
Ms. Crooks, who claimed in October 2016 that Mr. Trump kissed her on the lips near an elevator bank at Trump Tower in 2005, told Cosmopolitan magazine that she was compelled to run for public office because she felt her story had been ignored. Mr. Trump vehemently denied Ms. Crooks’ claim.
“I think my voice should have been heard then, and I’ll still fight for it to be heard now,” she said. “Americans are really upset with politics as usual, and I want to be a voice for them.”
“I think there will be a lot of people who see value in [my campaign],” she added. “But I hope more so because I’m a viable candidate rather than a participant in the #MeToo movement.”
Ms. Crooks, who currently serves as the director of international student recruitment at Heidelberg University, is running for Ohio’s House District 88 represented by Republican state Rep. Bill Reineke. She said that even though the district voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, she’s hoping his “erratic and ineffective” presidency will sway voters in her favor.
Ms. Crooks said she was encouraged to run by fellow members of her liberal resistance group, Seneca County Rising.
“I think like a lot of women, because we’ve been historically underrepresented in politics, I didn’t necessarily see myself in this role,” she told Cosmo. “But multiple people encouraged and said, ’I think you would be great.’ Once you hear it a few times, you start to believe it a little bit, and fully consider it. Once I sat down and mulled it over, I felt like it really was a duty that I had, that I should take on this responsibility firsthand and try to make a difference for other people.”
“Women are uniting. The momentum is now. I want to be part of it,” Ms. Crooks added.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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