Four women have now come forward to allege a Utah Democrat running for Congress made unwanted advances of a sexual nature.
Democrat Eva López Chávez is a Salt Lake city Councilwoman running in her party’s primary to represent the 1st congressional district in Utah. The accusations, including that she “restrained” the women while making unwanted sexual advances, allege the incidents occurred before López Chávez joined the city council in 2023. Three of the women who came forward currently hold elective office, including one who serves on the city council with Chavez, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Salt Lake City Councilwoman Eva Lopez Chavez, now a Democrat congressional candidate, once described herself as “a Mexican lesbian shaping downtown.”
She is now facing allegations from four women, including three elected officials, who say she restrained them during advances… pic.twitter.com/U1WkvaNC7a
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 23, 2026
“If a man had done that to me, would there be a question if it was assault or not?” Democratic Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro said to the Tribune. Petro said that López Chávez, an out lesbian who describes herself as a “queer Latina,” pushed her against a wall during a September 2022 party and told her, “The only reason I still fuck men is because a woman hasn’t shown me what I really want.”
Democratic Utah state Sen. Jen Plumb said she initially dismissed a November 2022 incident when López Chávez pushed her against a wall and asked if she was “sure” she wasn’t attracted to women.
“I’ve got to do some work on why I saw it that way, but I would not be comfortable with someone doing that to my daughter, to my mom, my best friends and I’m not comfortable with it being brushed away anymore,” Plumb told the Tribune, saying that López Chávez definitely made “a sexual advance.”
Democratic Utah state Rep. Hoang Nguyen, who also runs a medical cannabis company and works in a investment group, recounted a 2022 incident in which she and López Chávez were departing from a campaign event for Plumb. López Chávez asked Nguyen for a ride to her car before asking Nguyen to pull over, the state lawmaker told the Tribune.
“Next thing I know she has leaned over and she’s on top of me, holding my shoulders down,” Nguyen said. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And she said, ‘Kiss me.’ She said, ‘I’m not going to get off you until you kiss me.’ I gave her a peck and she got off.”
The fourth woman, Maggie Regier, said López Chávez had to be pulled off her during a 2019 fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign, noting that López Chávez had been “flirty” and was leading her around before Regier was pushed against the wall. A friend of Regier’s separated the two, and Regier has since moved away from Utah.
“If she wants to run for Congress, then she needs to be held to a behavioral standard,” she told the Tribune. “Especially if she’s going to call out other candidates to be held to some sort of behavioral standard. And it’s just this pattern of behavior.”
López Chávez, who has denied the allegations, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“She is prepared to address them in any forum. She stands ready to submit to a polygraph test regarding these various allegations if requested,” Greg Skordas, an attorney representing López Chávez, told the Tribune.
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