Of all the skeletons that routinely get wrenched from closets during congressional campaigns, Virginia’s 5th District has shone a light on a strange one: Bigfoot erotica.
Journalist Leslie Cockburn, the Democrat taking on Republican former Air Force intelligence officer Denver Riggleman for Rep. Thomas Garrett (R-VA)’s vacated seat, tweeted Sunday calling Riggleman a “devotee of Bigfoot erotica.”
My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill. pic.twitter.com/0eBvxFd6sG
— Leslie Cockburn (@LeslieCockburn) July 29, 2018
Her accusations about Virginia GOP Senate nominee Corey Stewart come from Riggleman’s refusal to outrightly deny that he would campaign with him.
Stewart has reportedly endorsed a known white nationalist and met with the leader of the Charlottesville rally. In keeping with the spirit of the campaign, Stewart’s spokesperson recently called majority-black communities “shitholes.”
Cockburn followed up her startling tweet with another picture of a nude and censored Bigfoot from Riggleman’s Instagram page.
From my opponent Denver Riggleman’s Bigfoot erotica collection. pic.twitter.com/ELe0TWJh21
— Leslie Cockburn (@LeslieCockburn) July 29, 2018
Riggleman reportedly called the accusations “absurd” and said that the Bigfoot posts are part of an old military joke. However, he has co-authored at least one book on the mythical beast: “Bigfoot Exterminators Inc. The Partially Cautionary, Mostly True Tale of Monster Hunt 2006.”
Riggleman and Cockburn are fighting for Garrett’s seat, which he was forced to give up after accusations flooded in from aides accusing him and his wife of forcing them to fulfill tasks—like picking up after their dog and shuttling their children around—that fell far outside the purview of their professional duties.
