Former Sen. Martha McSally said she was sexually assaulted Wednesday during a jog along the Missouri River in Iowa.
The former Arizona Republican senator was running near the Nebraska border when a man came up behind her.
“He engulfed me in a bear hug, and he molested and fondled me until I fought him off,” McSally said in a video posted on Instagram. “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. 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,” McSally added. “I don’t think they found him. And I’m OK.”
McSally, who has previously spoken about how she was raped by a superior in the Air Force, said the incident “tapped into a nerve of other sexual abuse and assault that I’ve been through in the past.”
She continued, “In this case, I felt like I took my power back. He tried to take power from me, but I turned it on him, and he was running from me, instead of the other way around.”
McSally was in the area to give remarks in Omaha, Nebraska, “about courage and heart and how to be a brave heart,” which she noted was “put to the test.”
“I still have a lot to process. And I will do that in time. But I am committed to ensuring that I settle myself down, neurologically,” she said. “And I process this through in a very healthy way, which is what I teach other people to do as well.”
McSally posted an update early Friday morning that law enforcement had identified the suspect and a warrant is out for his arrest.
Thank you to @councilbluffspd detectives. Attacker started following me on bridge after donning stocking cap. Dominic Henton, like I screamed to you yesterday (with profanity), you will not get away with this or try to harm and violate another woman. You picked the wrong target.
— Martha McSally (@MarthaMcSally) November 10, 2023