Lucky voters in Wyoming will soon get to decide whether they want Liz Cheney or some guy who just admitted to impregnating a 14-year-old to be their representative in next year’s midterm election.
State Sen. Anthony Bouchard announced his plans to challenge Cheney for her seat earlier this year. In a Facebook Live video posted last week, he shared about this one time when he did a dumb thing and got an underage girl pregnant then drove her to suicide.
“It’s amazing that they look at things so negatively,” he said. “So bottom line is it’s a story when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant. You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”
Speaking to the Casper Star-Tribune afterwards, Bouchard said he was 18 and living in Florida at the time. The girl was 14. He said the couple felt “a lot of pressure” to terminate the pregnancy, but they held true to their “pro life” values.
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“I got to tell you, I wasn’t going to do it and neither was she,” he explained. “And there was pressure to have her banished from their family. Just pressure. Pressure to go hide somewhere.”
Bouchard went on to explain that he eventually married the girl when she turned the ripe old age of 15, explaining that “the only thing I could see as the right thing to do was to get married and take care of them.”
But three years later they divorced. And two years after that, his ex-wife died by suicide.
“This thing ended in kind of a bitter divorce. All the odds were against us,” Bouchard said. “She had problems in another relationship. Her dad had committed suicide. … For whatever reason she decided to do the same.”
The whole thing is tragic and horrible and, once upon a time, probably would have disqualified Bouchard from ever running for office. But this is Donald Trump‘s Republican party we’re talking about, where things like underage sex crimes, drug abuse, tax evasion, racism, etc., etc., are considered positive traits worthy of being rewarded with government salaries and benefits.
Bouchard said he chose to go public with the story after he was contacted by a “U.K. media reporter” and learned a political opposition research firm had begun digging into his personal history.
“He’s all part of that whole investigative team that smears people,” he said, adding that the he considers an investigation into his past as a positive sign that he is the “front-runner” in the bid to unseat Cheney.
“I’ve heard reports over a week ago calling family members, even offering to compensate them for anything they would give up on me,” Bouchard said. “That’s dirty.”
“That also tells you I’m in the lead, because they wouldn’t be doing this to me if I wasn’t in the lead. They wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t the front-runner.”
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Matthewnow
Are there really any words? I wonder what he will say when he meets St. Peter.
WillParkinson
I went to his Facebook page, and there are a ton of people there talking about how they support him. It was sickening.
Rich85
I can’t believe any true old school republican can justify staying in the GOP in light of what a disgusting cesspool of hate and stupidity it’s turned into. It’s hilarious that they ever referred to themselves as the “Family Values” party. Just a cadre of dunces at best, but mostly self righteous and truly evil scumbags.
Fahd
I thought he would be “in the lead” based on his fashion choices. I know the world is going to hell in a hand basket, but I’m not getting involved in Wyoming’s Republican primary and I’m not supporting Liz Cheney. They have to work this out without any interest or involvement for me. Sorry, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
ingyaom
Wouldn’t r@pe be a more accurate term?
GlobeTrotter
The way things are going with the GOP nowadays, my bet’s firmly on the perv!
Kangol2
Liz Cheney vs. the Child Rapist. Lord help the voters who have to make this choice, though it’s still an easy one: the warmonger over the pedophile without breaking a sweat! In the general, vote for the Democrat, people!
Liquid Silver
Go for…er…vote…um.
Let me think about this one for a minute. I mean, she’s a Cheney, for heaven’s sake.
LumpyPillows
There are better reasons to hate this guy – like his political positions.
Seth
I can walk and chew gum at the same time, so both are on the table.
mailliw110
So child rape shouldn’t be a factor?
Doug
Wyoming is a red state… they’ll choose the Child Rapist.
Mack
Of course they will, they chose a sexual predator for President and to run their party.
Prax07
GOP…the party of rapists, pedos, racists, gun nuts, crooks, christians, and the mentally ill. Trash, every last one.
Invader7
The GOP : Scraping the bottom of barrel and loving it.. They’ll take any POS, loser trash…
Heywood Jablowme
“”so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”
Except that in the Romeo and Juliet story they BOTH committed suicide!
Mister P
America loses with either one.
whateverokok
Let’s cut to the facts: it is not child rape. She was 14 (not a child) and he was 18. Only a four year difference. And they both wanted to have sex. It’s a tragedy how it ended up, but this guy has done nothing horribly wrong. I would love to see all those out there attacking him with their skeletons exposed for the world to see. We all have things in our past we regretted doing. Things that are not great. Me included. Everyone’s got a past. If we chose to only elect those without a past, there would be no leaders. Remember, nobody is perfect.
WillParkinson
Uh, what? Please tell me you’re not serious.
The age of consent in Wyoming is 17. They do not have a Close-in-Age Exemption.
It’s rape. Sorry. Thanks for playing. Buh-bye.
Cam
Let’s cut to the facts…
You are Miss Terri under one of your older screenames, you’re lying because the age of consent in Wyoming is older than 14 so it was statutory rape.
BaltoSteve
Um, guys, you are all missing one Major Fact… According to the article, it occurred when they were living in Florida. It is true that in Florida, it is illegal for an adult (someone 18 or older) to have sex with a minor (someone younger than 18), even if the sex is consensual. And that those who break the law have committed statutory rape. But it gets worse from there. There IS a Romeo and Juliet law in Florida as well. if the older partner is 18-23 and there is a 4 year (exactly or less) difference between them, they can use that as a defense. It’s there to protect minors close in age(say 15 and 17) from both being listed on a registry. So, while morally reprehensible, it wasn’t illegal.
Cam
@BaltoSteve
Are you sure it applies? From what I found, in Florida they are saying that when an adult is involved, there can be no consent if the other party is under the age of 16 period. I may have missed something, but that seemed to be the line in the sand Florida drew.
BaltoSteve
@Cam, from what I remember checking with a friend down in Florida because of that Cesspool called Matt Gaetz, it is on the books. And from what he said, they have to have exactly or less than 4 years between their ages. The example given was if the older person was born on April 1 and the younger born on April 2 four years later, the older can not use the Romeo and Juliet defense. If the the younger was born on March 31 four years later, the defense can be used. Like I said, I think it was really meant to not stigmatize kids 14-17 or adults 18-21 from experimenting sexually with their “Peers.”
Heywood Jablowme
@BaltoSteve: The Florida “Romeo & Juliet” law you refer to was enacted in 2007. It doesn’t apply retroactively, of course, to Bouchard’s offense many years before.
Heywood Jablowme
@BaltoSteve: “he married the girl after she turned 15 when they were both living in Florida. He said they were able to get married at the time because under Florida law, a judge could approve the marriage if a pregnancy was involved and a parent consented. The state of Florida put a ban on child marriage into law in 2018, with some narrow exceptions for 17-year-olds.” – CNN
Since there was no Romeo & Juliet law in Florida back then, I’m guessing it would have been a statutory rape charge IF it had been charged at the time. The following year Bouchard talks her into marriage (with a judge’s consent), maybe just to get out of a statutory rape charge?
BaltoSteve
@heywood, thanks for the clarification.
jmps
He sounds like a perfect fit for today’s Republican party.
Cam
The sad thing is, he has fewer scandals then so many other Republicans. A decade or so ago none of these people could have run for office, but the GOP has become a party that courts treason, child trafficking, and bigotry.
Invader7
The GOP = the party of vile, slimy, disgusting putrid ,nasty, icky perverts and con artists…
lord.krath
Hrm… I wonder which way this is going. It’s a slam dunk whom they will chose. Though in a race to the bottom, really it doesn’t matter.