Republican Sen. Peter Lucido of Michigan first made headlines last week when Michigan Advance reporter Allison Donahue came forward and alleged in a first-person account that he made a disrespectful, sexist comment to her while she was trying to interview him, crudely suggesting that high school boys could “have a lot of fun” with her in front of a group of teenage boys who reportedly burst into laughter. As of Tuesday, Jan. 21, Democratic State Sen. Mallory McMorrow has filed a complaint against Lucido for sexual harassment, as reported by Crain’s Detroit Business, and though the circumstances are different, her allegations ring close to Donahue’s in theme.
Sen. McMorrow alleges that she approached Lucido to introduce herself while both were at orientation just two days after the November 2018 election. McMorrow tells Crain’s that Lucido held one hand on her lower back, with his “fingers grazing my hips and upper rear,” while they shook hands.
“He asked what my name was and where I was from,” she continued to Crain’s in an interview. “He asked, ‘Who’d you run against?’ And I said, ‘I beat Marty Knollenberg.’ At which point he looked me up and down, raised his eyebrows, and said, ‘I can see why.’” It felt “really degrading and deflating,” she added.
Obviously, the language sounds familiar when compared to what Lucido reportedly told Donahue on Jan. 14. After both Senate Republicans and Democrats requested an investigation into Donahue’s claims, Lucido said he was sorry about the “misunderstanding.” He eventually said his words had been taken out of context and that he’d been misquoted.
McMorrow says that while at orientation over one year ago, they sat through sexual harassment training. Lucido allegedly said, “The culture is what it is around here. We can’t change that,” in reference to scenarios where sexual harassment might happen. Basically: This is a boy’s club and we’re not changing it.
Democratic Sen. Rosemary Bayer backs McMorrow’s account and tells Crain’s she saw Lucido put his arm around the senator while they spoke. McMorrow’s husband says McMorrow told him about the incident the same day it happened, also corroborating her allegation.
Lucido sent a text message to the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday morning, saying McMorrow’s allegations are “completely untrue and politically motivated.” He denies her claims entirely. To counter the idea that her coming forward has political motivations, it’s worth remembering that McMorrow flipped her seat and won in a traditionally Republican district.
“I remember thinking, it doesn’t matter to this person that I ran a campaign for a year and a half, that I quit my job to do that,” she told Crain’s, thinking back to the alleged incident. “It doesn’t matter what my background is or if I’m suited to do this job. It was: You’re a piece of meat and of course you won this election.”
If you’re wondering why McMorrow is coming forward now, she addressed that herself, saying, “People with positions of power should be held responsible for treating others with respect. In coming forward today, I hope my report will help put an end to such behavior.” She apologized for not coming forward earlier and said that she’d held back on her story because she didn’t want to risk her chances of being “effective” in her new role.
On Twitter, McMorrow first thanked Donahue for coming forward with her story.
Then, after her own story broke, she thanked people for being supportive and sharing their own experiences.