Arizona GOP primary frontrunner Steve Montenegro has conceded the race to his rival after his campaign was rocked by a texting scandal.
Debbie Lesko, a former state Senator, had a comfortable lead in unofficial returns for the the Republican primary race for the vacant West Valley congressional seat before Montenegro conceded.
Montenegro’s campaign was hit by scandal in the final days of the race, after The Arizona Republic detailed his yearlong flirtatious texts with junior legislative staffer Stephanie Holford.
Holford admitted to sending Montenegro topless photos of herself and engaging in sexually charged chats with him on multiple occasions.
Montenegro described the first accounts of the cyber affair as ‘false tabloid trash’ but later admitted the texts were his.
Arizona GOP primary frontrunner Steve Montenegro has conceded the race to his rival former state Senator Debbie Lesko (pictured, right, on Tuesday with former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer) after his campaign was rocked by a texting scandal
Democrat primary winner Hiral Tipirneni and Lesko (pictured, left, on Tuesday) with her husband Joe), who had an early lead going into the ngiht, will face off in an April 24 special general election
Montenegro’s campaign was hit by scandal in the final days of the race, after the media detailed his yearlong flirtatious texts with junior legislative staffer Stephanie Holford (Pictured, Montenegro in March 2015)
Holford, said in a statement provided by her lawyer: ‘Over the months, we began to flirt. I felt comfortable enough with the relationship that I began to send pictures of myself in various states of undress.’
‘Sen. Montenegro asked me to send them on Snapchat instead. We engaged in sexual conversation about these pictures. These conversations were detailed and intimate,’ she added.
Hiral Tipirneni was declared the winner of the Democratic primary. Tipirneni and Lesko will face off in an April 24 special general election.
The race will settle who finishes the current two-year term for Trent Franks, who resigned in December after being accused of sexual misconduct by some of his female staffers.
Two aides say Franks approached them about surrogacy, and the AP reported Franks offered an aide $5 million to carry his child.
Holford (pictured) admitted to sending Montenegro topless photos of herself and engaging in sexually charged chats with him on multiple occasions. Montenegro first denied, and then admitted to, the affair
Due to my familiarity and experience with the process of surrogacy, I clearly became insensitive as to how the discussion of such an intensely personal topic might affect others,’ Franks said in a statement last year.
‘I have recently learned that the Ethics Committee is reviewing an inquiry regarding my discussion of surrogacy with two previous female subordinates, making each feel uncomfortable. I deeply regret that my discussion of this option and process in the workplace caused distress,’ he said at the time.
Montenegro, the leading candidate, won Franks’s backing, and boasted about his relationship with him during an online chat with Holford.
In between texts about workouts, colleagues, and showering, Montegro told Holford: ”I work w a US Congressman. Trent Franks,’ azcentral reported.
Later on the same night as that February text, Holford texted him at 10:16 pm: ‘Anyways let me know if you stay late tomorrow … It’s ok … I know you’re at home … No worries.’
‘If you’re free … let me know’ she added.
At 12:15am, hours later, she wrote him: ‘Well I just woke up but if you’re free tomorrow evening let me know. I’ll text you while I’m at work. Night’ – ending with a half moon emoji.
In another exhchange, Montenegro said he ‘got all worked up’ at a hearing, then complained about another senator.
‘Yup. He is a pain,’ Montenegro wrote.
‘Painful on the eyes too,’ chimed in Holford.
‘Lol. I know I am,’ he responded, modestly.
‘No, that’s not true is all I’ll say … lol,’ Holford responded.
Montenegro wrote back: ‘Well you are kind. But you work for the senate so you have to be nice.’
Montenegro and Lesko were fighting to fill the seat left by Rep Trent Franks (pictured, March 2017) who resigned in December after being accused of sexual misconduct by some of his female staffers
Two aides say Franks (pictured, December 2017) approached them about surrogacy, and the AP reported Franks offered an aide $5 million to carry his child
Montegro told the Washington Examiner he ‘never had inappropriate relationship with her or anyone else.’
He said in a statement after her lawyer released the texts: ‘I have already made clear that Ms. Holford and I were friends, that while I allowed our friendship to become too familiar, and that she did, without solicitation from me, send me an inappropriate picture, I never had inappropriate relationship with her or anyone else.’
Holford did seven years in state prison on drunk driving related charges after she ran through a red light and plowed into an airport shuttle van while impaired.