A ‘creepy’ and ‘weird’ Kentucky lawmaker has been accused of sending hundreds of raunchy late-night texts to female staffers.
Three women aged between 26 to 28 have made sexual harassment allegations against 45-year-old married state Rep. Daniel Grossberg, who is being investigated by the state’s Legislative Research Commission.
Grossberg has denied the claims, which refer to incidents spanning the last couple of years, but also apologized for making anyone feel ‘uncomfortable’.
His attorney has defended the interactions by saying the texts do not contain anything ‘inappropriate’, while adding that he is autistic.
The women, who are all involved in Democratic politics in the Kentucky capital of Frankfort, shared a tranche of communications from Grossberg – totaling 63 texts and 68 direct messages sent on X – with the Lexington Herald Leader.
They described Grossberg’s messages as ‘creepy’ and ‘weird’ – ranging from telling staffers he found them ‘beautiful’, to asking for nudes while warning one 26-year-old that if she were to find out his porn preferences she would ‘never forgive him’.
The woman who received the communication about his porn preferences said the comment left her feeling ‘deeply uncomfortable and increasingly unsafe’.
‘His power within the party, combined with the nature of his questions and comments, left me feeling threatened and concerned for the future of my career,’ she told the Herald-Leader.
She revealed that the married lawmaker had encouraged her to download Snapchat, where messages and photos disappear soon after sending.
‘I like chats that can’t be used against me. lol,’ he wrote to her on December 1, 2023.
The 26-year-old said Grossberg had been ‘relentlessly’ asked her to send nudes.
She described Grossberg as ‘scary’, adding that his actions had ’caused me significant distress and left me with a deep sense of vulnerability’.
Another woman revealed messages from Grossberg calling her ‘beautiful’ while saying he had a ‘crush’ on her back in 2021, when she was 24.
She said the onslaught came despite the fact she ‘barely knew him’, but she felt she couldn’t push back because of Grossberg’s powerful position in Kentucky politics.
The woman said Grossberg also texted her just before midnight in August 2022 saying she was ‘beautiful, beautiful’.
‘Being referred to as ‘beautiful, beautiful’ in a text message at 11:37 pm by a married man is something I wish to not happen to me,’ she told the Herald-Leader.
‘I remember waking up to that text and thinking how gross that was, but never said anything to him or anyone, because I didn’t know who to say anything to.’
In January this year, Grossberg allegedly asked the woman out for a drink in another late-night text, and probed her about the year she graduated high school – before making an even creepier comment.
She replied the next morning agreeing to get a drink – though she said this meeting never materialized – and he responded saying: ‘there’s something about’ girls from that school, along with a wink face emoji.
The woman also detailed how Grossberg told her in December 2023 that his feelings for her had escalated. ‘My crush on you just went to 11,’ he allegedly wrote.
Speaking about the moment she read this message, the woman said: ‘I remember the feeling of my heart sinking to my stomach as I sat in my office at work, getting ready to eat the leftover Indian food I had just warmed up.
‘I remember losing my appetite. I remember my entire body shaking from anxiety. I remember wanting to go home.’
The woman said she even went to the length of recruiting two male friends to protect her from Grossberg at campaign events.
‘I looked at these two friends and made them swear to me they would not let him get near me,’ she said.
The staffer added that she was speaking up for ‘those who are scared of his power since he is a sitting lawmaker’, adding that Grossberg’s behavior has ‘got to stop’.
Other allegations against Grossberg include instances of him allegedly inviting staffers back to his office and pouring spirits before getting wasted in front of them.
In one such encounter, he allegedly asked one lesbian staffer several sex-related questions, including one about her genitals.
He told the woman she was very attractive, adding that it was a ‘shame’ she didn’t like men.
The third female staffer to come forward is trans, and she said the lawmaker had made her feel uncomfortable by probing her at length while drunk about her genitals, sex life and whether she had had gender reassignment surgery.
He added that he did not find the post-operative vaginas of trans women ‘convincing,’ the woman said.
‘At this point I realized I was in a tenuous situation,’ she told the Herald-Leader.
‘As a 26-year-old trans woman, I was alone with an inebriated middle-aged male state representative in his office, asking me about my sexual identity and history.
‘I felt trapped.’
Grossberg has pushed back against the claims but also issued an apology.
‘I deny any allegations of sexual harassment or abuse of office,’ he emailed to the Herald-Leader.
‘I sincerely apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable because of something I said or wrote.’
Grossberg added in his statement that he is ‘fully cooperating’ with an ethics investigation into his conduct and said he’s determined to hold himself ‘to a higher standard and am committed to listening to women’s voices.’
House Democrats voted to temporarily suspend Grossberg from their caucus as the investigation continues.
His attorney, Anna Whites, has said his texts did not contain any ‘sexually harassing or inappropriate’ content.
‘It’s very easy to make accusations and take comments out of context,’ she told the Herald-Leader.
Whites previously said Grossberg has a ‘neuro-divergent diagnosis’ meaning he is on the autism spectrum.