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Dr. Sonya Douglass, wife of Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, publicly criticized her husband Sunday after learning that he would be running for re-election despite his decade-long affair.
Horsford – a married man with three children who represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District – previously acknowledged the affair after a former intern to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid revealed she is “Love Jones,” the focus of a podcast series called “Mistress for Congress.” Douglass stated on social media that she was upset with her husband’s decision to run for re-election despite the scandal, and warned both Horsford and the media to leave her and her children alone in the upcoming race.
“I have remained silent for nearly two years and want it to be clear that I am not enjoying the pain that my children and I continue to suffer since [Rep. Steven Horsford] told me the day after Mother’s Day about his 10-year affair AFTER already speaking to his staff and attorneys,” Douglass said of her husband. “And that he would choose to file for re-election and force us to endure yet another season of living through the sordid details of the [affair] with [his mistress] rather than granting us the time and space to heal as a family.”
NEVADA DEMOCRAT HORSFORD ADMITS AFFAIR WITH FORMER REID INTERN KNOWN AS ‘LOVE JONES’
“We did not ask to be put in public life and were simply supporting [Horsford] because that’s what we understood family to be and do,” she added. “We just want to heal and live the amazing lives we’ve been destined to live, free of lies, manipulation, and unbridled ambition.”
“It is true that I had a previous relationship outside of my marriage, over the course of several years,” Horsford said in 2020, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I’m deeply sorry to all of those who have been impacted by this very poor decision, most importantly my wife and family. Out of concern for my family during this challenging time, I ask that our privacy is respected.”
Love Jones’ real name is Gabriela Linder, and she told the Review-Journal that she and the congressman were engaged in an off-and-on sexual relationship between 2009 and 2019 – Horsford married his wife in 2000.
When they first met, she was 21 and Horsford was the 36-year-old majority leader of the Nevada state Senate. She said she wants her story to be a warning for other young women about relationships with older men in positions of power.
“He knew how in love with him I was, and he knew what he could do and get away with,” she told the newspaper. “He knows I would support him. He never told me to keep quiet. He didn’t have to. He knew I was loyal to a fault.”
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Linder never worked for Horsford, but said on her podcast that he provided job referrals and “financial support” over the years, the newspaper reported.
She added that she had no knowledge of Horsford ever misusing campaign funds or money from his state Senate or congressional offices to pay for anything for her.
On April Fools’ Day, Horsford appeared on a YouTube program hosted by Linder’s young son, but the woman told the newspaper that Horsford is not the boy’s father. Linder and Horsford stopped speaking after the YouTube show, though the reason was unclear, the report said.
She said she launched the podcast series as “an empowering journey” away from the relationship and is also writing a book about their time together. She also claims that no one offered her money to produce the podcast, and she was not prompted by any of Horsford’s opponents as he seeks re-election.
Linder told the newspaper she thinks Horsford should withdraw from the race for misrepresenting himself to voters as “a family man and man of God.”
Fox News’s Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.
