Explosive new allegations surface amid vicious feud between Virginia Dem and his estranged wife

The estranged wife of scandal-plagued Virginia state Sen. Joe Morrissey is alleging that he committed serial adultery and is lying about child abuse accusations against her boyfriend in an explosive new series of allegations, reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"The couple began trading allegations after Morrissey said he reported to Richmond police that their son had welts on his buttocks from alleged punishment by Myrna Morrissey’s boyfriend. She then posted a series of statements on Instagram that detailed her husband’s infidelities and called their marriage 'the biggest mistake of my life,'" reported Michael Martz. "In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Saturday, Myrna Morrissey said the senator’s allegations of abuse are 'completely false' and are related to their impending divorce and visitation of their three children."

"In her Instagram post, she said, 'I’ve saved face for this man, protected this man, lied, cheated and stole for this man because you can’t have me the way you want and that I really moved on with my life he would stoop so low as accusing me and someone close to me of abusing my child! Anyone that knows ME, knows what a damn good mother I am to MY children,'" said the report.

Morrissey, a Democrat who represents Richmond, first began dating Myrna, and impregnated her, when she was 17 and working as his law office clerk. When this became public, he resigned from the House of Delegates and was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They married two years later, Morrissey was elected to the state Senate in 2020, and Myrna eventually helped secure him a pardon from Gov. Ralph Northam in early 2022. But they had already separated in 2019, and are in a bitter divorce proceeding.

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Morrissey has racked up a lengthy list of controversies in his time in politics.

In 2016, when he was running for mayor of Richmond, Morrissey was dogged with allegations he made sexual advances toward a client at his law office. His law practice, where he was known as "Fighting Joe," was plagued with repeated citations for contempt of court; he had his law license suspended twice, was disbarred in 2001 over his courtroom behavior, reinstated to practice law by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2011, and then disbarred again in 2018 due to the sex crimes conviction.

In February of last year, he threatened to rip out a NAACP activist's heart during a hearing on casinos. He was also hit with preliminary restraining orders after allegedly threatening to assault two radio producers during a studio interview, although a judge later dismissed them.

Morrissey ran in the snap primary for Congress to replace the late Rep. Don McEachin earlier this year, but was defeated by fellow state Sen. Jennifer McClellan.