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Aaron Coleman, Kansas Legislature Candidate Who Admitted to Publishing Revenge Porn, Says He Won’t Withdraw

Coleman won the Democratic primary in August despite admitting to publishing intimate photos of women without their consent to bully them.

Aaron Coleman, a 19-year-old Democratic candidate for the Kansas state legislature, wants back into the race after pledging to withdraw earlier this month. Coleman won the Democratic primary against a seven-time incumbent earlier in August by 14 votes as a progressive challenger to an establishment Democrat but said he would halt his candidacy. In June, he had admitted to publishing revenge porn to bully girls when he was in middle school. Democrats in the state party have distanced themselves from Coleman, fearing the controversy of his campaign will hurt their chances elsewhere. On Tuesday, however, Coleman tweeted, “Onwards to November!...We need to provide safety to women in our society, which we currently do not do.” He said in a video, “I obviously did not expect to have my entire personal life, especially what I did in middle school, put under that kind of national microscope.”