A second woman has now accused Democratic Nevada Rep. Ruben Kihuen of sexual misconduct.
Kihuen repeatedly touched the women’s legs or buttocks without her consent, the woman told the Nevada Independent. The anonymous woman also showed the paper hundreds of suggestive text messages from Kihuen that included comments such as, “I’m sure you look even better naked.”
In one message, he asked her “What color are your panties?” She declined to tell him, which Kihuen said made him “sad,” claiming his “day can’t go on without knowing.”
The text messages reportedly took place during the 2015 legislative session while Kihuen was a state senator. The congressman neither confirmed nor denied the allegations against him in a statement to the Independent.
“During my ten years in the Legislature, I dated several different women,” Kihuen said. “Out of respect for their privacy, I won’t discuss my communications or any other details of those relationships.”
The woman said she never dated him.
“I never went over to his house. I never kissed him. I don’t know what his definition of dating is, but usually dating is a mutual decision between two people to do things alone, which I never, ever did with him,” she said.
The woman is the second accuser to come forward against Kihuen.
During the 2016 campaign, Kihuen’s campaign finance director accused him of making similar unwanted advances and touching her legs without her consent. The woman said she quit as a result of Kihuen’s alleged sexual harassment.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Kihuen to resign shortly after the first woman came forward.
Kihuen previously said he intends to finish out his first term and claimed that Pelosi knew about the allegations against him during the campaign but supported him anyway.
“I do find it interesting that the DCCC, Leader Pelosi and Chairman Ben Ray Lujan — they knew about these allegations last year,” he said. “They looked into them. They didn’t find anything, and they continued investing millions of dollars in my campaign. They went out there and campaigned for me.”
Pelosi denied that accusation.