Woman Who Accused Trump of Misbehavior Runs for Office

A woman who made headlines by accusing Donald Trump of planting an unwanted kiss on her mouth in 2005 now hopes to make more headlines as an elected official. Rachel Crooks, one of three women to come forward last year to accuse the president of sexual misbehavior, is running for the Ohio state legislature, reports the Columbus Dispatch. Crooks maintains that when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at Trump Tower, the future president kissed her on the cheeks upon meeting her, then kissed her on the mouth. She says she felt violated. “I think my voice should have been heard then, and I'll still fight for it to be heard now," Crooks tells Cosmopolitan. Trump has denied the allegations.

The 35-year-old Democrat has a tough fight. She would have to unseat two-term Republican Bill Reineke, though the seat isn't exactly a GOP stronghold. The district voted for Trump in 2016, but it went for Obama in 2008 and 2012, notes Politico. Crooks, a political newcomer, currently directs the recruitment of foreign students at Ohio's Heidelberg University, but she thinks the #MeToo movement gives her a strong chance of winning. "Women are uniting," she says. "I want to be part of it.” (More Ohio stories.)