Madison Sheahan, a congressional candidate in Ohio, has been accused by an alleged former partner of engaging in a secret relationship marked by control, jealousy and verbal outbursts,according to the Daily Mail.
The woman, who spoke anonymously, alleged that the relationship began in 2020 when she was 19 and in college. Sheahan was 23, working as a senior Ohio Republican Party official on Donald Trump's campaign payroll. She claimed the relationship lasted roughly two years and was kept entirely secret.
The woman claimed she had moved into Sheahan's home after losing her student accommodation at Denison University. She summed up her former partner in three words: 'Toxic, volatile, controlling.'
Sheahan is now running for Congress in Ohio's 9th Congressional District ahead of a 5 May Republican primary. She resigned as deputy director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in January. Her campaign adviser Bob Pudachik flatly denied the account.
'As the Ohio campaign manager, I can speak with authority that no such relationship existed,' Pudachik told the Daily Mail. 'Madison was not and has never been in a relationship with a subordinate.'
The woman told the Daily Mail that Sheahan's behaviour worsened when they were apart. In late November 2020, the younger woman was stationed in Atlanta while Sheahan worked with senior campaign staff in Buckhead, Georgia, about an hour away. When the woman sent Sheahan a photograph of herself in black jeans and a fitted bodysuit before a night out, things turned ugly fast.
Sheahan went from wishing her a good evening to screaming over the phone, the woman claimed. A colleague working near Sheahan at the time told the Daily Mail the outburst could be heard through the walls. Sheahan had the call on speaker.
When the woman returned and rang Sheahan back, she was accused of cheating. The jealousy, the woman clarified, was not about the women she was with. It was about the men who might be there. When she told Sheahan it was her first same-sex relationship, Sheahan reportedly said: 'This is why I don't like to date people who aren't gay,'the Daily Beastreported.
The woman claimed Sheahan also told her how to dress, objected to her smoking and tried to stop her from moving to Washington in late 2021. At no point could they show affection to each other in public or at work events, she said. The alleged relationship ended over the phone in 2022 after a final row.
The woman said she believed Sheahan's behaviour was rooted in a refusal to accept her own sexuality. 'I think a lot of the problems with our relationship was that she's not comfortable in her own skin,' she told the Daily Mail. 'It's okay to be gay... but I don't think that's something she has accepted.'
Source: International Business Times UK
