Sen. Nate Boulton quits Iowa governor campaign after 3 women accuse him of sexual misconduct

Brianne Pfannenstiel | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Boulton not stepping down from Iowa Senate Sen. Nate Boulton said he won't leave the Senate months after stories of inappropriate sexual conduct forced him to suspend his gubernatorial campaign.

Iowa Democratic candidate for governor Nate Boulton suspended his campaign Thursday morning, the day after the Des Moines Register published allegations from three women that Boulton touched them sexually without their consent.

"I am so proud of the campaign that my staff, my supporters, and I ran in the past year,” Boulton said in a statement. “I was and still am inspired every day by the people who have chosen to fight alongside me in the Senate and on the campaign trail to share a positive vision forward for this incredible state of Iowa.”

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61, which had endorsed Boulton's campaign, issued a statement from president Danny Homan supporting Boulton's decision.

"The top priority and ultimate goal this fall remains the same: electing a pro-worker Governor who will lift up Iowa’s working people — and recognize that unions are part of the solution. The Reynolds administration has made slaughtering the working class a point of pride and must be defeated," Homan said in the statement.

Following publication, a chorus of Iowa Democrats had called on Boulton to exit the race ahead of the June 5 primary.

Boulton did not say whether he would seek to return to the Iowa Senate, where he currently is serving his first term. But immediately after announcing the suspension of his campaign, Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, called on him to resign that position as well.

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"Sexual harassment is unacceptable whether it occurs in a social or professional setting," Petersen said in a statement. "What we have learned in the last 24 hours makes it clear to me that Senator Boulton should also resign his position in the Iowa Senate. If he chooses not to do so, I will support a full, independent investigation into allegations against him."

Video: Three women accuse Nate Boulton of sexual misconduct Three women have accused Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Nate Boulton of inappropriate sexual conduct.

Boulton's name will still appear on Election Day ballots, which have already been printed, said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.Early voting began May 7, and 13,668 Democrats have already cast ballots in the primary.

One woman told the Des Moines Register that Boulton, now 38, repeatedly grabbed her buttocks at a bar in 2015. Two others told the Register that when Boulton was in law school more than a decade ago, he rubbed his clothed crotch against them, pressing his erect penis into their thighs.

Boulton, who announced in May 2017 he would seek the Democratic nomination for governor, did not deny the allegations.

“I don’t have the same recollection,” he told the Register. “But I am not going to offer any additional context to this, other than to say if someone’s perspective is that it was inappropriate and I crossed a line and I misread a situation in a social setting, I do apologize.”

Boulton: 'If I crossed a line... I apologize' Listen as Sen. Nate Boulton, Democratic candidate for governor, offers his perspective on allegations of sexual misconduct.

He declined to comment on or discuss the specific incidents, saying, “I think if I add context it quickly becomes victim-blaming, and I don’t want to go down that path.”

In the statement announcing the suspension of his campaign, Boulton said Democrats must win in November, and he will support the Democratic nominee.

"These the last 48 hours have been trying," he said. "I again offer an apology to those whom I have harmed in any way. It is my hope there is some positive that can come from this moment as we strive to be the better people we can be in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. I know that will be my task moving on from here."

Boulton did not say whether he would seek to return to the Iowa state Senate.