Democrat running for US Congress says she was raped while fixing campaign sign

A Democratic candidate for US Congress running in Arizona says she was raped as she repaired a damaged campaign sign, in an attack now under police investigation.

Bernadette Greene-Placentia recounted her experience to the Phoenix New Times in an article published this week, describing losing consciousness after blows to the head.

When she came to, she said one of the two men was on top of her and sexually assaulting her.

She told the news outlet that embarrassment prevented her from reporting the attack immediately. She described feeling withdrawn and missed a campaign event.

Two weeks later, she reported the assault to the Maricopa County Sheriffs office, she said.

A representative from the department confirmed to AFP that an investigation was ongoing, and declined to comment while it was under way.

Greene-Placentia told the Arizona outlet that her campaign promise of fighting for all constituents moved her to report her trauma.

"I didn't feel like I could keep saying that if I weren't also fighting for women that are victims of sexual assault," she said.

The candidate later told The New York Times that her memory of the incident was spotty, but that she recalled kicking the men until they fled.

Greene-Placentia, a former long-haul trucker, told the Times she didn't want the details of her alleged attack to overshadow her campaign platform centered on health care and affordability.

She also feared reporting the episode could be seen by some voters as political ploy, as she seeks to unseat Republican incumbent Abraham Hamadeh in November's midterm vote.

"I don't want my campaign to be about this," she told the paper. "But women need to know it's okay to come forward."