VA State Senate: Myrna Morrissey, the estranged wife of Democratic state Sen. Joe Morrissey, filed divorce proceedings Tuesday alleging that her husband had physically and emotionally abused her, including choking her while she was pregnant.
In 2015, the senator spent three months in jail after pleading guilty to a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor on account of his relationship with Myrna Morrissey, whom he'd met two years earlier when she was 17 and had hired as an assistant at his law office.
The couple, who were married in 2016, had always maintained that they never engaged in a sexual activity until Myrna Morrissey legally became an adult, but in her divorce filings, she reversed her previous claims and now says the two commenced a "sexual relationship" when she was still 17. She also accuses Morrissey of fathering twins with another woman during one of the several affairs she says he had during their marriage.
The lawmaker responded by telling the Washington Post, “It breaks my heart that she would make these absolutely false allegations.” Morrissey, a conservative Democrat who has confounded observers and opponents for years by surviving numerous serious scandals, faces a serious primary challenge on June 20 from former Del. Lashrecse Aird. Aird and her allies have emphasized Morrissey’s opposition to abortion rights in their quest to beat him in the 13th Senate District, a constituency in the Richmond area that favored Joe Biden 62-37.