Kansas Dem, 19, who admitted to revenge porn, wins

Aaron Coleman admitted that he harassed girls online when he was in middle school. He called one sixthgradegirl fat and told her she should kill herself.

Seven years ago, he told another girl, who was 13 at the time, that he would circulate a naked photo of her if she didn’t send him more nude images. When she refused, she said, he followed through on his threat.

“They’re accurate,” Coleman, 19, said of the women’s claims.

On Monday, Coleman, a dishwasher and community college student, was declared the winner of a Democratic primary for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives,

defeating the incumbent, Stan Frownfelter, by 14 votes. The final count was 823-809.

What would have been a story about a young upstart taking down a seven-term incumbent during a period of nationwide youth activism has instead alarmed Democratic state leaders, who said they were worried that Coleman’s acknowledgment of his troubled past and other comments he made during the campaign would hurt their party’s chances in competitive races.

Democrats had been making inroads in Kansas, a state long dominated by Republicans, and hoped to capture enough seats in the Legislature to break the Republicans’ supermajority. Coleman is not facing a

Republican opponent, but Democratic leaders, including Gov. Laura Kelly, have said they are supporting Frownfelter, who announced on Tuesday that he would run as a write-in candidate in the general election against Coleman.

“Aaron Coleman is not fit to serve in the Legislature,” said Lauren Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for Kelly.

Tom Sawyer, the Democratic House minority leader, said he did not believe most voters in the 37th District, in Wyandotte County, knew about Coleman’s past. The party plans to campaign hard on behalf of Frownfelter, he said.

“I hope he can pull it out so I don’t have to deal with this kid,” Sawyer said.