TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Topeka man who was the city’s first openly gay mayoral candidate says he received death threats during his unsuccessful primary campaign.
A day after failing to advance to the November general election in the five-candidate race, Chris Schultz told the Topeka Capital-Journal Aug. 2 that the threats he suspects were related to his sexual orientation were “kind of traumatizing.”
Schultz, who owns two downtown Topeka restaurants, said he didn’t report the texts he received by text and email to law enforcement in an attempt to avoid thinking about them. And he said he didn’t bring them to light until after the primary election so that they wouldn’t become a distraction.
Michelle De La Isla, a city councilwoman, and Spencer Duncan moved on to the general election. Schultz finished third.
De La Isla called the threats “horrendous.”
“I am very sorry to hear Chris experienced that,” she said Wednesday. “Chris is a great person. He ran a wonderful campaign.”
(Images from Chris Schultz’s Facebook page.)
