Republican candidate for Wisconsin state assembly, Peter Schmidt was blackmailed for $50,000 by a man that claimed to have a video of the politician performing oral sex on another man. The self-proclaimed “strong conservative and christian” won the republican primary earlier this month by 64 votes before reports of the allegations were made public.
Schmidt made the criminal complaint in 2019 when an employee on his family farm threatened to send a video of Schmidt performing oral sex on another man to his family unless he received $50,000. Schmidt was able to negotiate with the alleged blackmailer, getting the price down to $5000 before contacting authorities and telling his family himself.
“I’m a strong conservative and Christian, but there was a brief moment I struggled with my sexuality,” Schmidt said in a statement to local news site WisPolitics. “I was the victim of a crime, but I’ve put the matter behind me and I’ve focused on my faith.”
Schmidt is running for Wisconsin’s Assembly District 6 which is a rural republican stronghold west of the city of Green Bay. It is unclear how the revelations of Schmidt’s gay past will affect his race against democratic candidate William Switalla in the elections this fall.