Former Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) spoke out publicly on Instagram about a sexual assault she said happened to her on Wednesday, while she was out for a run in Omaha, Nebraska, reportedThe Arizona Republic.
"On Wednesday, McSally, looking into the camera and acknowledging she was still feeling adrenaline from the matter, said a man groped her along a trail tracing the Missouri River on the Iowa side of the state lines," reported Ronald J. Hansen. “A man came up behind me and he engulfed me in a bear hug, and he molested and fondled me until I fought him off,” said McSally. “I then chased him down. I said a lot of swear words in this moment. I was in a fight, flight or freeze, and I chose to fight."
She continued: “I ran after him. I threw my water bottle at him, and I chased him into the brush, where he was then hiding as I called 911 and waited for the police to come. I don’t think they found him, and I’m OK." She added that, "It could have been much worse. I still have a lot to process and I will do that in time.”
McSally, a former Air Force pilot, served in the Senate after being appointed to serve out the remainder of the late Sen. John McCain's term, and was unseated in 2020 by Democratic candidate and former astronaut Mark Kelly.
“I know it’s tapped into a nerve of other sexual abuse and assault that I’ve been through in the past, which I’ve healed from, as much as I feel can be done,” McSally added.
McSally is not the first senator to open up about this. In 2020, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) detailed her experiences of being raped in college and victimized by domestic abuse in her former marriage.