A man running to replace outgoing District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton faces a child pornography charge in the district.
Federal grand jurors indicted Angel Rios on Feb. 5 for allegedly distributing child pornography to a user on X, court documents show. Rios began messaging a male witness on the platform in December for a conversation about politics before turning it toward sexual topics, including how the two could be an “LGBT+ community leader power couple” while secretly raping children, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges.
Rios previously filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a candidate for Holmes’ seat, and the 88-year-old announced her impending retirement in January, local news outlets revealed Thursday.
Rios Complaint by Hudson Crozier
An attorney for Rios did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment. Washington’s official candidate list for the delegate race does not include Rios’ name, but his LinkedIn profile claims he is a “shadow candidate.”
Rios’ LinkedIn resume contains multiple claims the DCNF could not verify, including that he worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Democratic presidential campaign and held leading roles in the “Downtown Policy Council of Washington D.C.” and the “D.C. Community Action Network.” However, Rios filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Democrat in California’s 2022 elections, and again in Mississippi’s 2024 elections, FEC filings show.
An undercover federal agent began investigating Rios after finding out about his disturbing alleged messages to the unnamed witness, court records show.
“You liked what you saw. You want more of it,” Rios allegedly told the undercover agent on Snapchat, discussing child sex abuse material. “Kids are here to be used,” he said, according to the DOJ.
Democrats are seeking to flip control of the House to their party in 2026, though polling shows uncertainty regarding their chances, the DNCF previously reported.
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