In addition to blackface, infanticide, and alleged sexual assault, the Democratic Party in Virginia can now add “sex with minors” to the list of questionable hobbies they’ll allow politicians to dabble in.
On Tuesday night, Joe Morrissey, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, won the Democratic primary for state senate. It was less than four years ago when Morrissey, who was in his fifties at the time, was jailed for having sex with a 17-year-old secretary at his law firm. According to statements from a prosecutor, Morrissey had sex with the girl multiple times in his law office and possessed a nude picture of her that he texted to a friend.
Morrissey was indicted for felony charges of indecent liberties with a minor and possession and distribution of child pornography. He denied the charges, but ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in 2015. After serving jail time that year, he continued to deny sexual contact with the teenager, then denied paternity of a baby she delivered months later. Fast-forward a few more months, and Morrissey admitted on the radio that he was the father of the child, and the former secretary is now his wife.
Morrissey won Tuesday’s primary by 14 points, defeating incumbent state Sen. Rosalyn Dance, who was endorsed by Gov. Ralph Northam. Despite campaigning against Northam and the Democratic establishment, both Morrissey and the governor are doing their part in exposing Democrats’ hypocritical pearl-clutching about the sexual behavior of political candidates.
We all know about how media on the left and right talk about Donald Trump’s sexual history. And no one can forget that, for weeks leading up to the Alabama Senate race in 2017, all journalists and the pundit class could talk about was how Republican candidate Roy Moore was a pedophile for dating teenagers. They did forensic analysis on yearbooks from the 1970s, and shamed Alabama voters who supported Moore.
Now we have a modern-day romance with a 40-year age difference and another power dynamic between a teenager and her boss to boot. All without a single question raised or Virginia voter shamed by media think pieces.
Of course, we know exactly how these two cases studies would have turned out if Morrissey and Moore swapped the “D” and the “R” near their names. But what really makes this story rich is that Morrissey is simply another politician in a long list of morally objectionable elected officials who currently hold office in the Commonwealth.
At least Morrissey, who stepped into his son’s life after an unexpected pregnancy, chose life — unlike Northam, who supports late-term abortion and advocates for killing unwanted children after failed abortions. Of course, there is still time for racist photos of Morrissey wearing blackface or a Klu Klux Klan robe to emerge, like they did Northam, or for women from his past to step forward with accusations of sexual assault, like they did for Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.
But thanks to the new standards set by both Democratic leadership and the media establishment (but I repeat myself), the new state senator candidate will not have to worry for a second about his job security should any additional scandals emerge.
