Four women have accused Salt Lake City Councilwoman Eva López Chávez, a Democrat now running for Congress in Utah, of making aggressive and unwanted sexual advances between 2019 and 2022, allegations that include pinning women against walls, holding one woman down by her shoulders, and demanding a kiss. Three of the four accusers currently hold elected office.

López Chávez, who has described herself as "a Mexican lesbian shaping downtown" and a "queer Latina," is seeking her party's nomination to represent Utah's 1st Congressional District. She joined the Salt Lake City Council in 2023. Every alleged incident predates her time on the council, but the accusations have surfaced squarely in the middle of her congressional bid.

Her attorney, Greg Skordas, denied the allegations and framed them as politically motivated. López Chávez did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation, which first reported the story.

The accusers and their accounts

The earliest allegation comes from Maggie Regier, who said López Chávez had to be physically pulled off her during a 2019 fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign. Regier described López Chávez as "flirty" and said the candidate led her around before pushing her against a wall. A friend had to separate the two. Regier has since moved away from Utah.

In September 2022, Democratic Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro, who now serves alongside López Chávez, said she was pushed against a wall during a party. Petro told the Salt Lake Tribune that López Chávez made a sexually explicit remark to her. The New York Post reported that Petro also alleged López Chávez grabbed her throat and pushed her against a pillar at a 2022 wedding afterparty.

Petro posed a pointed question about the double standard she sees at work:

"If a man had done that to me, would there be a question if it was assault or not?"

That question hangs over the entire episode. In nearly any other context, a male candidate accused by four women of pinning them against walls, grabbing them, and demanding physical affection, the political response would be immediate and unsparing. The fact that the accused is a woman running on an identity-politics platform does not change what the accusers say happened to them.

Democratic Utah state Sen. Jen Plumb described a November 2022 incident in which López Chávez pushed her against a wall and asked if she was "sure" she wasn't attracted to women. Plumb initially dismissed it but has since reconsidered. She told the Tribune she now views the encounter as "a sexual advance." Plumb offered a fuller description to the Washington Examiner:

"It absolutely was a sexual advance. She leaned into me, grabbed onto my a**, got up in my face and said in my ear, 'You're sure you're straight?'"

Plumb also acknowledged the personal reckoning the allegations forced:

"I've got to do some work on why I saw it that way, but I would not be comfortable with someone doing that to my daughter, to my mom, my best friends and I'm not comfortable with it being brushed away anymore."

The most detailed account

The most graphic allegation came from Democratic Utah state Rep. Hoang Nguyen, who also runs a medical cannabis company and works in an investment group. Nguyen recounted a 2022 incident that began after the two were leaving a campaign event for Plumb. López Chávez asked for a ride to her car, then asked Nguyen to pull over.

Nguyen told the Salt Lake Tribune what happened next:

"Next thing I know she has leaned over and she's on top of me, holding my shoulders down."

She continued:

"I said, 'What are you doing?' And she said, 'Kiss me.' She said, 'I'm not going to get off you until you kiss me.' I gave her a peck and she got off."

Read that account again. A political figure physically restrained a colleague inside a vehicle and refused to let go until she received a kiss. In the #MeToo era, accusations far less detailed than this one have ended careers overnight, when the accused was a man. It is worth asking whether the same standards apply here, or whether López Chávez's identity as a self-described "queer Latina" has insulated her from the kind of swift institutional reckoning that other establishment figures have faced when damaging revelations surface.

López Chávez's response, and the party's silence

López Chávez denied the allegations. Her attorney, Greg Skordas, told the Salt Lake Tribune:

"She is prepared to address them in any forum. She stands ready to submit to a polygraph test regarding these various allegations if requested."

Skordas also told the Washington Examiner that López Chávez "intends to continue fighting for what's right," dismissing the claims as political attacks. She has not dropped out of the race.

The Utah Democratic Party and the Salt Lake City Council both said they take the allegations seriously and support investigations, the Washington Examiner reported. But as of publication, no law enforcement agency, court, or ethics body has been reported to have received a formal complaint. No charges have been filed. No investigation has been publicly announced.

That gap between "taking it seriously" and doing anything concrete is familiar territory for a party that has spent years demanding investigations into its opponents' alleged misconduct while managing its own scandals with careful ambiguity.

A pattern the accusers want recognized

Maggie Regier, the earliest accuser, drew a direct line between López Chávez's public persona and her private conduct:

"If she wants to run for Congress, then she needs to be held to a behavioral standard. Especially if she's going to call out other candidates to be held to some sort of behavioral standard. And it's just this pattern of behavior."

That last phrase, "this pattern of behavior", is significant. These are not anonymous accusers hiding behind lawyers. Three of the four are elected Democratic officials who went on the record. They named dates. They described specific physical actions. They spoke to the Salt Lake Tribune knowing the political cost of accusing a fellow Democrat.

The New York Post noted that the accusations surfaced after López Chávez publicly condemned an opponent over past comments about sexual assault, a detail that sharpens the hypocrisy charge. A candidate who positions herself as a champion of accountability for others now faces calls to meet that same standard herself. The broader pattern of Democratic infighting over standards and leadership only deepens the irony.

The double standard question

The core issue here is not complicated. Four women say a political figure physically cornered them, restrained them, and made unwanted sexual advances. The alleged conduct spans at least three years and multiple settings, a fundraiser, a party, a wedding afterparty, a car. The accusers include a state senator, a state representative, a city councilwoman, and a former political aide.

If a male Republican candidate for Congress faced these same allegations from four women, three of them fellow elected officials, the story would be leading every cable news broadcast. Editorial boards would demand his withdrawal. Party leaders would be asked on camera whether they still supported him. Donors would be pressed to return contributions.

López Chávez's candidacy has not received that treatment. Her attorney calls the allegations political. She remains in the race. The party says it takes the claims seriously but has not publicly called for her to step aside. No formal investigation has been reported.

Victoria Petro's question deserves a straight answer. If a man had done this, there would be no debate. The sex of the accused does not change what the accusers say they experienced. And the political identity of the accused, however progressive, however groundbreaking, does not entitle anyone to a lower standard of accountability. Voters in Utah's 1st Congressional District, and Democratic women under pressure everywhere, deserve better than a party that applies its own rules selectively.

Accountability either means something or it doesn't. Four women went on the record. The least their party can do is act like it heard them.