Florence, Ariz. --

A sheriff seeking the GOP nomination for an Arizona congressional seat was forced to confirm he is gay Saturday and resigned from presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's Arizona committee amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he had a relationship.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denied claims he tried to threaten the man, a Mexican immigrant and a former campaign volunteer, with deportation if their past relationship was made public. The man's allegations were first published Friday in the New Times, a Phoenix alternative weekly magazine.

Babeu, a first-term sheriff who has risen to national prominence with his strong opposition to illegal immigration and smuggling, said the accusations were an attempt to hurt his political career.

He vowed to continue his campaign in Arizona's rural western Fourth Congressional District seat, but said he had called presidential candidate Mitt Romney's staff to say he would step down from his post as state campaign co-chair.

"This whole of idea of who I am in my private life has been shopped around," Babeu said during a press conference Saturday.

The man's lawyer, Melissa Weiss-Riner, released a statement Saturday saying the man retained her because he was contacted by Babeu's attorney and "felt intimidated."

"Jose continues to live in fear, and is currently in the process of moving again," she said.

Weiss-Riner earlier told the New Times that Babeu's attorney and campaign consultant falsely told her client that his visa had expired. Babeu told reporters he believed the man, identified only by his first name, was living in the country legally.

The New Times posted a photo provided by the man of the two embracing. It also posted a cell-phone self-portrait of a smiling Babeu in his underwear and another of what appears to be the shirtless sheriff in a bathroom, posted on a gay dating website. Babeu didn't deny their authenticity.

"I'm here to say that all the allegations that were in the story were untrue - except for the instance that refers to me as gay," Babeu said. "That's the truth - I am gay."

He said he didn't have the power to get anyone deported.

Babeu, who is not married, said he had been in a relationship with Jose that ended before September. Jose also ran his campaign website and Twitter account, and Babeu said he began posting derogatory items on the sites after their breakup.

Babeu said he had his lawyer contact Jose and demand that he stop and turn over passwords allowing access to the sites.

The district where Babeu is seeking election is heavily Republican. He is taking on an incumbent Tea Party Republican who switched districts, Rep. Paul Gosar, and state Sen. Ron Gould.

Gould said he believed Babeu's posting of pictures on what the lawmaker called a "homosexual hookup website" were a "Congressman Weiner type of moment." Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., resigned last year after admitting to sending lewd photos to women online.

Gould also said he believes Babeu's sexual orientation would hurt him in the district. Gould sponsored Arizona's constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.