RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The writers of TV’s “Scandal” would be hard-pressed to invent a client more difficult than “Fighting Joe” Morrissey, who campaigned from jail for Tuesday’s special election to fill the same seat he’s resigning from in disgrace.
Through four elections, most voters have overlooked or even embraced flamboyant Virginia lawmaker Joseph D. Morrissey’s history of fistfights, contempt of court citations and disbarment. The 57-year-old bachelor, who has fathered three children out of wedlock with three different women, repeatedly won at least 70 percent of the vote.
But would voters be OK with his conviction in a sex scandal involving his 17-year-old secretary, whose nude photo was found on his cellphone and allegedly shared with a friend? Would they mind that the young woman – who denies they had sex – is now pregnant?
Virginians were watching in suspense until polls closed Tuesday at 7 p.m., as up to 53,000 voters cast ballots in a three-way race for the seat Morrissey was supposed to be vacating.
Morrissey, who claimed his phone was hacked and denies any wrongdoing, has made a career of never backing down, hanging boxing gloves in his office and promising “Joe will fight for you” in campaign ads on city buses. At one point, the liberal Democrat waved an assault rifle inside the House chamber while arguing for gun control.