Several women accuse Utah congressional candidate Eva Lopez Chavez of misconduct

SALT LAKE CITY — Victoria Petro knew Eva Lopez Chavez before the two began serving on the Salt Lake City Council together, mostly through the Latino community and different jobs at City Hall, when they attended another City Council member's wedding in September 2022.

After a day of dancing and fun, many gathered for an after-party at a local nightclub, where Petro said the night suddenly took a different turn.

"(Lopez) put her hands around my neck, pushed me against one of the pillars so my back was against the wall," she recalled, saying Lopez then used a vulgar expletive to tell her the only reason she dates men "is because a woman hasn't shown me what I really want."

Three and a half years later, Petro remembers freezing in that moment, before saying something to remove herself from the situation and leaving. She said she ultimately did not report the incident because she was surprised by what happened. She said she started second-guessing the moment, wondering whether she was blowing it out of proportion, while also feeling weird about reporting an employee who was much younger than she was. She was 41 at the time, and Lopez was 26.

It still bothers her, but she says she believes it's "very, very tame" compared to other stories she's heard about Lopez. Those concerns rose to a head this year, as Salt Lake City reviewed an undisclosed incident referencing Lopez.

"The reports and firsthand accounts of Councilmember Eva Lopez Chavez's past behavior cannot be dismissed or minimized," Salt Lake City Council Chairman Alejandro Puy wrote in an email dated Feb. 12 that KSL obtained. "Based on my own firsthand knowledge, and the experience of some of my colleagues on the council, they do not describe an isolated incident. They suggest a pattern of conduct that has affected colleagues in our own council, myself and many others in our community, and has shaped our working environment. ... It is clear there is a problem that can't be ignored and must be addressed."

Lopez has been a rising star in Salt Lake County's Democratic scene, becoming the first Mexican American elected to the Salt Lake City Council in 2023. She also served as the chair of the Salt Lake County Democratic Party and as a liaison for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall before that. She announced late last year that she would run for Congress in the new Democratic-leaning District 1.

She's been one of the city's more prominent voices, speaking out on newsworthy issues such as the federal government's purchase of a Salt Lake warehouse for a proposed immigration detention facility and a state bill to rename the city's Harvey Milk Boulevard.

Billing herself as a "proud member" of both the LGBTQ and Mexican American communities, Lopez wrote on her campaign website that she will "always advocate for her Utahns' rights and representation."

Behind the scenes, however, multiple people who have worked alongside her or encountered her told KSL that they've been harassed or assaulted, or made uncomfortable by comments she's made. Through an attorney, Lopez denied any wrongdoing.

'It was self-defense'

One of those coming forward is state Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, who said she felt assaulted by Lopez after an event in the summer of 2022. Nguyen, who was not a lawmaker at the time, said she was leaving a primary celebration party for a state Senate candidate when Lopez followed her to her car and got in.

"I said, 'Do you need a ride or something?'" Nguyen recalled. "And she said, 'Just drive.'"

Nguyen said Lopez pointed in a direction, so she began driving, assuming Lopez was directing her to where she had parked. After about a block, Nguyen said Lopez directed her to pull over.

She said Lopez then leaned across the center console and held her down against her seat.

"She is on top of me, holding me against the chair, and she says, 'Kiss me,'" Nguyen said. "I said, 'No, what are you doing?' She said, 'Just kiss me,' and she did say, you know, 'Don't be a prude.'"

Nguyen said Lopez held her down and wouldn't get off, so she gave her "a quick peck."

"It was self-defense," she said. "She wasn't going to get off unless I gave her a kiss."

Nguyen said she told a few close friends about the incident. Two sources told KSL they were told about the incident after it occurred.

Nguyen said she initially didn't report the incident publicly, but decided to come forward after hearing of similar incidents and to prevent others from being victimized.

"I kind of put it up to just (that) she was young, foolish — she did a stupid thing and I was, at the time, giving her kind of the benefit of the doubt," she told KSL. "Since then, there have been many other people that I've spoken to that she's done varying degrees of this to, and the reason now is I really do not want her to keep doing this to other people."

'No malice or sexual intent'

Greg Skordas, an attorney representing Lopez, said the councilwoman "denies any wrongdoing." Skordas is also one of the hosts of KSL NewsRadio's "Inside Sources."

"She's aware of the allegations and she has tried to address them," he said. "There was nothing that she has done in her mind that was inappropriate or wrong in any way. To the extent that someone may have been offended by any of her conduct, she's certainly apologetic, but she didn't mean any harm or any appropriateness by anything she's done."

He said Lopez denies having forced anyone down, and said she has not "had any malice or sexual intent in anything she's done."

Skordas added it's "sad" that the allegations have come out just days ahead of the state nominating convention and "without time or the opportunity to disprove these allegations."

"She has been and will always be an advocate for women who are victims of physical or sexual abuse," he added.

'Pattern of behavior'

Maggie Regier reported being "harassed" by Lopez during a community event while Regier was working for a mayoral candidate in 2019. Regier initially came forward in a social media post in 2023 — when Lopez was first running for City Council — saying "after repeatedly telling her no, two of my friends stepped in to physically separate her from me."

Regier described feeling "incredibly unsafe" after the encounter.

"I am not writing this to be vindictive, to ruin her career, or to 'cancel' her," Regier wrote at the time. "I am sharing this because she has made me feel unsafe enough that she should not be elected to public office."

Regier, who now lives in New York City, recounted the events to KSL. While "not eager" to tell the story, Regier felt compelled to after Lopez criticized past statements by her Democratic opponent, state Sen. Nate Blouin, denigrating Latter-day Saints and making crude jokes about women and sexual assault.

"I think it's important that we hold all of our potential congresspeople to the same standard, and I also believe in holding our elected officials to a high moral standard," Regier said. "I don't feel that Eva meets a high moral standard and I don't feel that her pattern of behavior is something that I would want in an elected official and that I would want in someone in the United States Congress."

Several other individuals shared similar stories with KSL. Four sources described Lopez as vindictive, and some were granted anonymity because they fear retaliation and further harassment.

One Salt Lake woman said she witnessed Lopez grope several women while on a dance floor in downtown Salt Lake City in 2022. She said it appeared to her that the women did not consent to the touching. They pushed her hands away several times, she recalled.

Another Salt Lake woman described several incidents of concerning behavior over several months. She described being a passenger in a car as Lopez drove through downtown Salt Lake City while seemingly intoxicated, recklessly accelerating and making passengers feel unsafe.

She also described at least two incidents of alleged harassment, which included inappropriate touching.

The person described Lopez as a "dangerous and vindictive person," and "incredibly manipulative and cruel."

Skordas said that as a young woman in college, Lopez "drank alcohol and drove her car but never when she felt she was inebriated."

"She has no history of alcohol or substance abuse," he said. "She has never been arrested or treated for misusing alcohol or controlled substances."

Petro said she tried to forget the 2022 incident until she learned that Lopez was running for City Council a year later, and that she had only shared it with a handful of people after it happened. After Lopez won, the two met over lunch, where Petro said Lopez asked her not to tell people about the incident, insisting that she was drunk at the time and it would never happen again.

Petro served as the City Council chair in 2024, helping advocate for an ethics code, since there wasn't much of one before that. The two agreed to work together for the betterment of the city, and things were "really, really decent" until recently, Petro said.

Lopez filed a code of conduct violation against Petro and Puy, alleging that they were disparaging her to potential voters as she runs for Congress. They both dispute the claim, which they said was filed shortly before Puy's Feb. 12 memo.

Petro said she hadn't talked about the incident for years until she was asked about it by KSL. She believes Lopez is "weaponizing" the council's code of conduct to prevent her from sharing her story.

"I'm concerned that this gets written off as just a political hit job. That has never been the motivation," she said, noting that she no longer feels comfortable meeting with Lopez one-on-one. "My experience has nothing to do with who will be sent to D.C. ... My experience has to do with me being victimized by someone who thought they had entitlement to approach me in whatever way they saw fit, without respecting my autonomy or dignity."

No formal complaints

No formal complaints have been filed against Lopez at the City Council level since she's been in office. Outside of an incident in 2023 in which she was warned for using her mayor's liaison job to campaign for office, which the city forbids, no formal complaints about her conduct were filed while she worked for the mayor's office, said Andrew Wittenberg, the city's spokesman.

"Appropriate steps would have been taken immediately had the office been made aware of any such allegations," he told KSL, in reference to other claims of misconduct.

However, Puy instructed City Council staff to review its council policies, including the code of conduct, over "credible concerns" that "impact the integrity of our institution," according to the Feb. 12 email. He wrote that his goal was to provide "clarity, accountability and prevention" to avoid further issues.

Council Vice Chairwoman Erika Carlsen was tasked with leading the review at the time to avoid any conflicts of interest, he added.

The accusations surfaced ahead of the state Democratic nominating convention on Saturday. Lopez is one of several Democrats vying for the nomination, and her future in the race could be decided by the delegates.

She collected signatures to qualify for the primary ballot, but was still 1,700 short of the threshold as of Wednesday evening, according to the lieutenant governor's office. Election officials have until Friday to verify signatures.

Three Democrats — former Rep. Ben McAdams, Michael Farrell and Blouin — have already qualified for the ballot, and Liban Mohamed is just about 800 signatures shy of qualifying. Luis Villarreal is also running.

If Lopez doesn't hit the signature threshold, she will need to win at least 40% of the vote on Saturday to remain in the race.

Riley Owen has already qualified for the Republican primary in the 1st Congressional District, with Dave Robinson, Stone Fonua and Jonathan Lopez also running on the GOP side.

Libertarian Jesse West is also vying for the seat.

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