Dem Candidate Used To Charge $500 An Hour To Do BDSM, Created Playboy Profile For Campaign Attention

Oregon Democratic congressional candidate, Courtney Ellyn Casgraux, thought her future in politics had been destroyed when a video of her working as dominatrix surfaced on the internet.

The clip popped up on Reddit at the end of August when it was anonymously posted by someone. It showed the 41-year-old working at Donatella's Den, a BDSM dungeon in Manhattan.

" just panicking … Then I was like, 'Who did this?' and I just started calling every single person that I pretty much knew from my past … I was like hyperventilating, crying," she said.

After the dust settled on the video leak, Casgraux decided to embrace her dominatrix past. A past which isn't as far into her past as you might think.

The congressional candidate used to work as a dominatrix, making $500 an hour, in her 20s and 30s. She picked up the whips and chains for another run during the pandemic while she says she was staying with a friend in the Bronx.

Some might see the video leak as an attempt to disrupt Casgraux's campaign, not Casgraux. She thinks it's not just on her, but all women.

"To shame me for something that helped create the life that I have today where I have opportunity … made me really mad," she said. "Because it felt like an attack on women, not just an attack on me."

As you can see she's a quick study on the art of spinning political bullsh-t. Credit where credit is due. Turning a leaked dominatrix video into an attack on all women was impressively done, no matter how illogical.

Courtney Ellyn Casgraux Is Running For All The Former Dominatrixes

Casgraux isn't focused on the outing of her dominatrix past. She has a congressional seat to win. A seat currently held by Democratic Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici.

Part of her strategy to accomplish that involves the Playboy profile she created in the wake of the BDSM video scandal.

The profile isn't just for selling sexy pictures of herself, some of which cost as much as $150. She's also using it to gain attention for her campaign and to educate.

Casgraux is dropping knowledge about Article 2 and the struggles on small American farms alongside half-dressed pictures of herself. So far her campaign has raised less than $1,000 from a handful of donors.

"Once came out and I got the Playboy page, I was like, 'Oh my God, I feel like I can just be me.' And I could say the things that I wanna say, and I can be funny and be tongue and cheek with things, and reclaim my sexuality," she admitted.

Despite the uphill battle, she plans to continue her campaign. Win or lose, she'll consider her run for office a success.

“If I can win, that's incredible - let's go to Washington … and we'll make amazing legislation.

“But there's no losing if I can make one woman feel like there’s no shame in your past and what you have done…You too can run for Congress," Casgraux said.

There you have it. One small step for this dominatrix, one giant leap for dominatrix-kind.