Woman says Washington state lawmaker raped her in 2007

SEATTLE (AP) — A woman has accused a Washington state lawmaker of raping her 11 years ago, saying she was inspired to speak out as she watched the televised allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Candace Faber said Republican state Sen. Joe Fain sexually assaulted her in 2007 the night she graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

"I'm done being silent," she wrote.

Fain said he "absolutely" denies the claim and welcomed an investigation.

"Any allegation of this serious nature deserves to be heard and investigated for all parties involved," Fain wrote in a text message to The Associated Press. "I invite and will cooperate with any inquiry."

Fain, a Republican from the Seattle suburb of Auburn, is the minority floor leader of the Washington state Senate.

Faber explained later in a statement that she was inspired by Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were teenagers. Kavanaugh fiercely denied Ford's claims.

"Like Dr. Ford, I can no longer remain silent knowing that the man who raped me is in a position to influence the laws that govern my state and impact every woman who lives here," Faber wrote.

Faber, 35, in June published an online essay accusing an unnamed Washington state lawmaker of assaulting her. She wrote that they met "at the Capitol," spent the night dancing and kissing, and that both "drank too much."

She wrote in the essay she walked the man back to his hotel, went to his room and that he pinned her to a bed and pulled down her dress. She wrote that she told him to stop and put her foot on his head to push him away. After the man raped her, she wrote, she asked him for a kiss goodbye before leaving the room.

In her essay, she rejected that the kiss request was "not how girls act when they've been raped." She wrote that she later called a friend, wondering if she should go to a hospital.

Faber said in her statement said she did not make the man's name public earlier because she thought she "could change the culture of sexual assault without needing to say his name" but no longer believes that to be the case.

The Associated Press does not typically name alleged victims of sexual assault, but Faber chose to identify herself.

In his text message, Fain asked people to "show respect to Ms. Faber and to the process."

The lawmaker was elected to the state Senate in 2010, and later served as majority floor leader 2013 through 2017 when the Republicans controlled the chamber.

Faber's website says she worked from 2015 to 2017 with the city of Seattle's information technology department.

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AP correspondent Rachel La Corte contributed to this report.