A Republican U.S. House candidate who was accused of sharing “Bigfoot erotica” online won a U.S. House seat in Virginia in the midterm elections on Tuesday, BuzzFeed News reports.
Denver Riggleman, who was also accused of following Facebook pages with racist and sexist content, defeated Democrat Leslie Cockburn in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Riggleman led 54 percent to 46 percent of the votes on Tuesday night.
Riggleman made headlines in July when, thanks to his opponent, a screenshot from his private Instagram account went viral. The image was a NSFW illustration of a beast, and Cockburn called out Riggleman for sharing “Bigfoot erotica.” He denied the categorization and claimed the image was an inside joke.
My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill. pic.twitter.com/0eBvxFd6sG
— Leslie Cockburn (@LeslieCockburn) July 29, 2018
“My buddies thought this pic was fitting for my birthday next week and to celebrate my new book release in a month or two,” Riggleman said at the time, referring to a book called The Mating Habits of Bigfoot and Why Women Want Him.
It’s unclear if the book was ever published, as it’s not available through Amazon or other online retailers. Riggleman also reportedly wrote another book about Bigfoot in 2006. A source told Virginia newspaper Daily Progress that the book was “assuredly not” erotic.
After BuzzFeed News reported that Riggleman had liked Facebook pages with offensive content, including rape jokes, the Republican allegedly unfollowed the pages.
H/T BuzzFeed News
