Arizona Republican Rep. Martha McSally said she was sexually abused by her high school track coach when she was 17 years old, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
McSally, who is running against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state Sen. Kelli Ward for the seat of current Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake, said that she was abused as a high school senior at St. Mary Academy-Bay View, an all-girls Catholic school in Riverside, R.I., The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The two-term Arizona congresswoman said she turned to sports after her father died when she was between sixth and seventh grade in an effort to “escape from the grief of losing my dad.” Years later, as a high school senior, McSally said her track coach pressured her into having sex with him and that he used different psychological tactics to make sure she would not tell anyone.
“Even though he didn’t physically force me, it certainly was an emotional manipulation,” McSally said in the interview.
McSally said she was “freaking out that he would get me pregnant” and said she would run excessively to try to shut down her menstrual cycle.
The coach was identified as Jack Dwyer from a 1984 high school yearbook, but he has completely denied the allegations. “I believe she’s nuts,” Dwyer said. “That girl is the most scheming woman I ever met.”
McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly a combat mission, is running as an anti-establishment candidate and is running on issues such as securing the border and strongly advocating for religious freedom. (RELATED: Martha McSally Is Ready To Take On Joe Arpaio For Jeff Flake’s Senate Seat)
This tragedy is one of the reasons why McSally says she became a fighter pilot, because she “was looking for ways to not be powerless.”
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