Sen. McMorrow Hopes Sexual Harassment Complaint Against Lucido “Might Empower Others to Do the Same”

McMorrow says interaction with Sen. Lucido “made me feel very small and looked at like a piece of meat.”

The state Senator who made national news by making very inappropriate sexual comments to a young female reporter last week now faces a planned sexual harassment complaint from one of his Senate colleagues.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) says state Sen. Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Twp.) touched her in an uncomfortable way and made inappropriate comments about her looks when they first met during an orientation training session in 2018.

“This is a man who I didn’t know whose first reaction when meeting me was to hold my body and talk about nothing but my looks,” McMorrow tells Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today. “It made me feel very small and looked at like a piece of meat.”

McMorrow says last week’s piece in the Michigan Advance by reporter Allison Donahue detailing her own degrading interaction with Lucido and the reaction to that piece inspired her to come forward publicly with her own story.

“I knew I had a story that would lend credibility to her story, and I couldn’t not report it at that time,” says McMorrow.

She says she has not heard from Lucido since she came forward publicly.

Crain’s Detroit Business Senior Editor Chad Livengood first reported McMorrow’s account of the interaction on Tuesday. Livengood reports that Lucido texted him a statement saying, “I categorically deny this allegation, which I believe is completely untrue and politically motivated.”

McMorrow calls that denial “obscene.” She says she has heard from others that they have had “eerily similar” experiences with Lucido.

“My hope was that by coming forward myself, it might empower others to do the same.”

Click on the audio player above to hear state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) talk about her planned sexual harassment complaint against state Sen. Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Twp.) on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson.

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  • Detroit Today
    Dynamic and diverse voices. News, politics, community and the issues that define our region. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Today brings you fresh and perceptive views weekdays at 9 am and 7 pm.