50 Shades of Phoenix: Arizona gov candidate spills spicy sex life details

close

Video

Arizona governor candidate spills sex life on campaign page

Strategy Room: Sarah Badawi and Brian Morgenstern react to Noah Dyer sharing his sexual history on his website

An Arizona gubernatorial candidate is going to extreme lengths to back up his calls for honesty and openness in politics, by spilling the details of his colorful personal history on his campaign page – a past which includes group sex, sexting and periods of homelessness.

Noah ‘Noe’ Dyer, running a longshot campaign to grab the Democratic nomination and unseat sitting Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, is positioning himself as a pragmatic moderate who has only recently switched his affiliation to the Democrats.

A former teacher and marketing entrepreneur, Dyer says he believes in rapidly paying down state debt, equal education opportunities for Arizona’s children, he supports gun rights and calls for wide-ranging electoral reform.

However, he raised eyebrows last week when, in announcing his candidacy, he spilled details of his private life on his campaign website. In doing so, he says he believes “cleverly disclosed scandals that come out of the woodwork in the midst of campaigns mainly serve to divert and distract away from meaningful dialogue.” Instead, Dyer says he wants to have a “real conversation.”

Under the heading of “Scandals and controversy,” Dyer laid out everything from his student loan debt, his divorce, a period of homelessness, his use of credit card cash advances to pay tens of thousands of dollars in child support, and a colorful sexual history.

“Noah has had both deep and casual sexual experiences with all kinds of women.  He is an advocate of open relationships,” his campaign website says. “He’s had group sex and sex with married women. He has sent and received intimate texts and pictures, and occasionally recorded video during sex. Noah has always been forthright with his partners.”

After noting that all his relationships have been legal and consensual, he adds that he is “unapologetic about his sexual choices, and wishes others the same safety and confidence as they express themselves.”

He has also released an extensive list of the books he has read, which, along with weighty tomes by writers such as Thomas Piketty, Stephen Hawking, and Francis Fukuyama, also includes titles such as “The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Adventures” and the kinky bestseller “50 Shades of Grey.”

Dyer told Fox News that America’s political dialogue is broken, and that he hopes his openness is an example of the honesty the public is looking for from their politicians.

“I think people want honesty from their politicians, and I’m willing to give it to them,” he said. “I don’t think most things are relevant to my platform and my ability, but to the degree people think they are relevant, that is a choice for them to make, not for me to make it for them.”

He said that while he was not particularly nervous in disclosing his personal life to the public, he admitted that everyone on his campaign team was dead against it.

“Everybody on my campaign, not a single person agreed with it,” he said. “But I was personally passionate about it and I’m pleased about it.”

Dyer told Fox News that he has received a mixed reaction to his rollout, although he says the reaction has been more positive than negative, and that he hopes by moving past his personal life he can move on to an issues-based campaign which can appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.

“Our political dialogue is broken. People, for the most part, aren’t crazy blue or crazy red. Most people want to judge politicians and the issues on the merits, but our dialogue is so crazy, everyone’s a villain and everyone who disagrees with you is stupid,” he said.

Dyer faces a tough fight. The Arizona Republic reports that Dyer has no name recognition and no significant support from within the state Democratic Party. Even if he were to pick up the Democratic nomination, Arizona is typically considered a solid red state, and current Gov. Ducey would appear to be a safe bet. But Dyer notes that Trump’s ascension to the White House has energized grassroots progressives, who may be able to spark an upset in 2018.

“Arizonans are not anti-immigrant and they’re not anti-LGBTQ, but our people don’t turn out. Things Trump has said have activated the Democratic base, so you could get a historic turnout, which would bode well.”