A second woman has publicly accused Charles W. Herbster, the Republican nominee for governor in Nebraska, backed by former President Donald J. Trump, of groping her during a Republican fundraising dinner in 2019.
Elizabeth Todsen said Mr. Herbster grabbed her at dinner in Omaha and said the details of the incident reported by the Nebraska Examiner earlier this month were accurate.
“For years, I struggled with an experience I had with Charles W. Herbster,” she said in a statement from her attorney. “At a political event in 2019, Herbster sexually groped me as he greeted my table.”
The allegations against Mr. Herbster, an agribusiness millionaire who largely self-funds his campaign, have shaken the oft-civilized world of Nebraska politics ahead of the state’s May 10 primaries. Trump’s longtime ally has taken the former president’s playbook by responding to the charges, vigorously denying them, indicting his first prosecutor, a state senator, and tying her to his political rivals.
A spokeswoman for Mr Herbster’s campaign, Emily Novotny, said Mr Herbster “absolutely and unequivocally denies all allegations.” She said he will “take legal action” against Ms Todsen.
Mr. Herbster is a bitter political rival to Governor Pete Ricketts, a limited-term Republican who, like Mr. Herbster, has long been a major donor to Republicans in Nebraska. Mr. Ricketts supports Jim Pillen, a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Limited public polls from the race show that Mr. Herbster and Mr. Pillen have virtual affiliations with Brett Lindstrom, a state senator who has received support from moderate Republicans and some Democrats who have changed their party membership to run in the primary.
The report of Mrs. Todsen follows an accusation earlier this month by Julie Slama, a Nebraska state senator, who said Mr Herbster also grabbed her at the same event.
Ms. Todsen, 26, is a former political aide to the Nebraska state legislatures who now works for a fundraising company in Washington. She did not respond to messages Saturday and her attorney, Tara Tesmer Paulson of Lincoln, Neb., said she would not make additional comments.
Mr. Herbster denied Ms. Slama’s story and has since aired television ads tying her to his political rivals in the governor’s race, while comparing himself to Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, who were both charged with inappropriate behavior during their hearings. Mr. Herbster’s TV ad claims that Ms. Slama kept in touch with him after the incident and “even invited Herbster to her destination wedding.”
Mrs. Slama said on Twitter on Saturday that she was “grateful for Elizabeth’s courage to come forward.”
Mr. Herbster and Mr. Trump are scheduled to appear together at a meeting on Sunday in Greenwood, Neb. The event was originally scheduled for Friday night, but Mr. Trump moved it, he said, due to predicted storms in the area.
Kirsten Noyes research contributed.