NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Republican Tennessee House speaker’s chief of staff resigned Monday amid allegations that he sent sexually explicit and racist text messages, and after admitting he used cocaine inside a legislative office building when he held a previous job.
Cade Cothren stepped down late Monday, House Speaker Glen Casada said in a text message to The Associated Press.
The resignation, which Casada said was effective immediately, comes at a time when at least four other Tennessee lawmakers have faced high-profile sexual misconduct allegations.
Cothren, who earned nearly $200,000 a year, told news outlets the best thing for Tennessee was for him to step down so that he would not be a distraction to House and Senate Republicans. He became Casada’s chief of staff this year, and at age 32, was the youngest person to serve in the role in decades.
He resigned just hours after news outlets reported he and his boss had exchanged sexually explicit comments about women. First revealed in The Tennessean, the reports also alleged Cothren sent sexually explicit messages to and made “inappropriate” advances toward former interns, lobbyists and campaign staffers between 2014 and 2016.