Utah Democrat Running for Congress Accused of Misconduct

Eva Lopez Chavez is a Democrat who is currently a member of the Salt Lake City Council. She is also running for congress at the moment, but yesterday the Salt Lake City Tribune published a story in which four different individuals, three of them elected officials, claim they were cornered and propositioned by Lopez Chavez.

Victoria Petro, who is Lopez Chavez’s fellow City Council member; Maggie Regier, who worked on Stan Penfold’s mayoral campaign in 2019; Hoang Nguyen, who is now a state representative; and Jen Plumb, now a state senator, described their allegations in interviews with The Salt Lake Tribune. Each person said their allegations arose in social settings before Lopez Chavez joined the City Council in 2023.

Petro, Regier and Nguyen said they told others at the time, which The Tribune confirmed.

Victoria Petro suggests what happened to her at a party in 2022 would be classified as assault if a man had done it.

At the event, Petro alleges, Lopez Chavez grabbed her by the throat, “pushed me back against a pillar so that my back was against the wall and told me, ‘The only reason I still f— men is because a woman hasn’t shown me what I really want.’”…

In her interview with The Tribune, Petro asked, “If a man had done that to me, would there be a question if it was assault or not?”

A year later Lopez Chavez ran for city council and Petro told some people about what had happened. After Lopez Chavez won the race, she and Petro had lunch at which Lopez Chavez told her to stop telling the story.

I won’t go through all the accusations but another involves Hoang Nguyen who said there was an incident that also took place in 2022 after a campaign event.

As Nguyen was leaving the party, she said, Lopez Chavez asked for a ride to her car.

After she drove a few blocks, Nguyen said, Lopez Chavez told her to pull over — which she did, believing they had arrived at her car. “Next thing I know she has leaned over and she’s on top of me, holding my shoulders down,” Nguyen said in an interview.

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

Lopez Chavez is openly gay so it was probably no surprise to any of these women that she was interested in women in general. But all four of the stories have some element of physical coercion to them that seems to be what the accusers objected to.

Today the SLC Council released a somewhat generic statement saying they were aware of the allegations and would take them seriously.

We understand that multiple individuals have come forward with allegations that Council Member Lopez Chavez engaged in conduct that may constitute sexual harassment.

The Salt Lake City Council takes these allegations very seriously. We have a responsibility to uphold a safe, respectful, and accountable environment, and we stand unequivocally against all forms of harassment and misconduct.

The Utah Democratic Party also seems to be taking a wait and see approach:

The Utah Democratic Party has been made aware of the accusations reported against SLC Council Member Eva Lopez-Chavez. We take allegations of this nature very seriously.

There is a clear process for reviewing conduct concerns: written complaints from victims or witnesses of…

— Utah Democratic Party (@UtahDemocrats) April 23, 2026

There is a clear process for reviewing conduct concerns: written complaints from victims or witnesses of harassment are handled promptly through our Judicial Standing Committee. Should that process be initiated, we will follow it thoroughly, confidentially, and with care for everyone involved. 

We reaffirm that the party does not endorse in contested primaries and encourage voters and delegates to engage directly with candidates through official campaign channels.

So far, it appears Lopez Chavez has no intention of dropping out of the congressional race.

Salt Lake City Council Member Eva Lopez Chavez “intends to continue fighting for what is right,” according to her attorney Greg Skordas, following accusations that Lopez Chavez, who is now running for Congress, allegedly restrained several people during what they considered unwanted sexual advances…

“This is politics at its worst in Utah. And when a politician is young and female, the allegations are more personal and salacious,” Skordas said in a statement to ABC4 Wednesday night. “It’s really unfortunate what we’ve sunken to in this country. Rest assured that Eva intends to continue fighting for what’s right and will always support those who can’t speak for themselves.”

That’s it for now. None of these allegations are as serious as the ones that led Eric Swalwell to drop out of the California governor’s race and resign his seat in congress, but there does seem to be a clear pattern here, one that could cross the line into illegal behavior. Certainly if a man had done this, I think there would be calls for him to quit. We’ll have to wait and see how this develops.

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