Aaron Coleman Admitted to Revenge Porn and Abusing His Girlfriend. He Just Won An Election.

Aaron Coleman, who admitted to blackmailing a girl for nude photographs in middle school and to more recently abusing his girlfriend, is now an elected official in the state of Kansas.

Coleman, 20, won a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives on Tuesday after running unopposed in the general election. He unseated the Democratic incumbent Stan Frownfelter in the August primary, so his victory was expected, despite the fact that Coleman drew national attention for numerous accusations of vicious bullying and verbal abuse.

Kati Hampton was only 13 when Coleman obtained a nude photo of her and demanded that she send more, the New York Times reported. If she didn’t, Coleman, who was around the same age, threatened to distribute the photo. He did just that when Hampton refused to cave to the blackmail.

When the Associated Press asked Coleman about the allegations that he’d followed through with his threat to share the nude photo, Coleman told the outlet, “They’re accurate.”

Another woman said she attempted suicide after Coleman started verbally abusing her in the sixth grade.

“Calling me fat, telling me to kill myself, like I’m never going to find anyone, like I’m worthless, just downgrading me every day,” the woman told the Kansas City Star of Coleman’s behavior back then.

Yet another woman came forward saying that Coleman had harassed her for months, including persistently calling her family’s home phone, according to social media posts seen by the Star.

In a June post on Facebook seen by the Star, Coleman described the allegations against him as “bullying, revenge porn, and blackmail,” adding that they were true.  

“I just want to make clear all these allegations are both true and occurred only digitally,” he said. “I denounce these actions and they are the actions of a sick and troubled 14-yo boy.”

Initially, Coleman, who ran on a progressive platform, said that he would drop out of his primary earlier this year after the allegations surfaced; however, within days, he reversed that decision and decided to remain in the race. But as his campaign went on, more allegations against Coleman started to emerge. 

In October, the Star reported that Coleman was arrested in 2015 and charged with making a criminal threat. Coleman had sent a text message that read, “Imma get my uncles 9mm and go up their and shoot her then afterwards shoot myself in the head so cops cant arrest me,” according to the Star. In another message, he seemed to suggest that this shooting would occur at a high school.

Coleman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment, the Star reported. He told the police that he didn’t have access to a gun and that he didn’t really plan to hurt the girl.

When the Star asked Coleman about this allegation, Coleman replied that he found it “insane to use someone’s juvenile record to distract from the fact Republicans and Democrats are engaging in full on class warfare right here in Wyandotte County and keeping people trapped in poverty in order to maximize profits.”

However, accusations of Coleman’s abusive behavior towards women are not limited to middle school years.

In late August, the Intercept reported that Coleman’s ex-girlfriend, Taylor Passow, alleged that he physically abused her in December 2019. After she suggested that she would  temporarily break up with him so that he could have a threesome, Passow said Coleman “sat there for a few seconds, then he jumped on top of me, put his hands around my throat and started squeezing, and slapped me three times, and said, ‘I don’t know where the fuck you think you’re going.’”

In a separate incident, Coleman texted Passow to tell her to kill herself, the Intercept reported.

“Air out the clip into your head,” he told her, in texts published by the Intercept. “Mag dump yourself. Do that midnight tonight. If I never hear from you again, then I’ll know what happened.”

In yet another exchange, Passow and Coleman were texting about the possibility of Passow hitchhiking to see Coleman when he suggested that women who hitchhike get brutalized, according to Gen, a Medium publication.

“I hope you get abducted raped chopped up and have ya pieces scattered around and Burnt in different locations,” said Coleman. “You might get lucky and they might kill you first then rape your corpse.”

In a statement about the incidents with Passow, Coleman admitted that “it is true I was abusive to my ex-girlfriend,” but said he did not choke her. “I also don’t think she is intentionally lying, as I know large quantities of alcohol could be affecting both of our memories.”

“The two months I dated Taylor were mutually abusive, and this is not a justification for what I did but the reason why I must lead by example,” he said. “We must strive to create a society safe for women, which we do not currently do.”

Passow refuted Coleman’s statement in a message to VICE News.  

“All I have to say is he did choke me, and I don’t know why he’s saying alcohol had any play in the assault,” she said. “It was 10 a.m. and neither of us had been drinking.”