Tom Reed, Republican Congressman from New York’s 23rd Congressional District covering most of the state’s border with Pennsylvania, said Sunday he will not seek reelection after acknowledging that he sexually accosted a woman in a bar, the Associated Press reports.
At a Minneapolis bar in 2017, Reed sat next to an AFLAC lobbyist, then-25-year-old Nicolette Davis and rubbed her back and unhooked her bra through her blouse without her consent. He also tried groping her thigh.
“A drunk congressman is rubbing my back,” she texted a co-worker at Aflac that evening, adding later, “HELP HELP.”
Reed claimed that he was drunk when he groped Davis and that he sought treatment after the incident. He said that he was “powerless over alcohol” and he sought forgiveness from his wife and Davis. He announced that he would not seek elected office in 2022, apparently also ruling out a run for New York governor, for which he was touted by GOP sources.