Ohio candidate revisits personal domestic abuse experience

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s Democratic lieutenant governor candidate is adding her voice to the #MeToo movement, sharing details of abuse that led to her then-husband’s arrest three decades ago.

At a roundtable on violence against women Tuesday, former Congresswoman Betty Sutton said she was grabbed, pushed, picked up, thrown down, punched in the back of the head and threatened by her first husband.

He was ultimately arrested and pleaded no contest, the campaign said. Their marriage ended in 1991. Attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.

Sutton said it felt “imperative” to share her story. She said she hopes it will help other women.

Her timing also coincides with criticism of the candidate Sutton’s running with, Richard Cordray, over his handling as Ohio attorney general of a backlog of untested rape kits.

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This story has been corrected to show their marriage ended in 1991, not 1990.