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Pa. GOP lawmaker accuses Rep. Mike Zabel of sexually harassing her

During an International Women’s Day press conference, Rep. Abby Major described an incident she said took place last year.

State Rep. Mike Zabel (D., Delaware).
State Rep. Mike Zabel (D., Delaware).Read moreThe Office of Governor Tom Wolf / Flickr

» UPDATE: Zabel will resign from the Pa. House after facing sexual harassment allegations

A Republican lawmaker publicly accused Rep. Mike Zabel (D., Delaware) on Wednesday of sexual harassment and called for his resignation, as House leadership grapples with how to handle multiple accusations against him.

Rep. Abby Major (R., Armstrong), speaking at a GOP press conference marking International Women’s Day, described a November 2022 encounter with Zabel.

While at a bar trying to pay for her tab, Zabel peppered her with compliments about her appearance that made her uncomfortable, Major alleged. Zabel, with wine-stained lips and teeth, then allegedly put his arm around her and touched her back and asked her to go upstairs with him. She said she declined and told him she was not interested. Another male colleague caught her eye and she was able to get away.

“I told him that Rep. Zabel had propositioned me and was being a creep,” she said.

She said Zabel later followed her to her car when she tried leaving the bar. She ducked into a bathroom and then went back to the bar to ask a male colleague to walk her back. Zabel was again behind them, she said.

“To the men listening to this, you’ll never understand the feeling of a man touching you, following you, making you feel incredibly uncomfortable and unsafe and being able to do nothing about it,” Major said.

So far, approximately a dozen House Democrats, several Senate Democrats, top House GOP leaders and at least 16 female GOP House members have called for Zabel to resign.

Zabel announced last week that he would not resign, but would resign from his spot on the House Judiciary committee and would not accept any other committee assignments so he can “better focus on my family, my treatment, and my recovery.”

Democratic leadership has not called for his resignation, instead saying they “agree that it is appropriate for him to take a step back from his work and focus on the challenges before him.”

Major said she originally planned to give Zabel “a pass” for his drunken, inappropriate behavior until Andi Perez, a top lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union 32BJ, named him in Spotlight PA as the lawmaker who had sexually harassed her in 2019.

Perez had said in January that an unnamed representative had harassed her, and she had called for a change in House rules.

Major’s account was originally published anonymously on conservative website Broad and Liberty last week. She is one of three people who have come forward accusing Zabel of sexually harassing them. Zabel’s 2018 campaign manager also accused him in a blog post last week of acting inappropriately toward her and others while intoxicated.

Major said she knows of at least two other women who do not want to come forward — including another female lawmaker Zabel allegedly approached on the same night.

Zabel said in a letter to House leaders last week that he’s seeking inpatient treatment for an unnamed illness. People familiar with the matter say Zabel has struggled with alcohol.

Major said she “cannot sleep at night” knowing Zabel isn’t facing consequences for the allegations.

“Alcoholism is terrible, and I hope he gets help, but it is not an excuse or a pass to assault and harass women, and I’m tired of men using it as such,” she said.

Zabel and House Democratic leaders did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chuck Pascal, the Armstrong County Democrats’ chair, joined calls for Zabel’s resignation.

“While Rep. Abby Major and I are in different political parties and have policy differences, I consider her to be honest and trustworthy, and today showed great courage in sharing her story,” Pascal said in a statement. “It goes without saying that Rep. Major deserves to be treated with respect and dignity by her colleagues when she is representing us in Harrisburg.”

Zabel apologized to his colleagues in the letter last week for “the difficult position that I created for our caucus and our colleagues.” House Democrats just gained a razor-thin majority — 102-100 as of now, awaiting a special election to fill a vacancy in a GOP-controlled district — and want to maintain it.

Major noted the tough spot the accusations put Democrats and their new majority in, but said that if Zabel resigned now, House Democrats could immediately schedule his special election.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) set a special election to fill State Sen. Lynda Culver Schlegel’s former seat in the state House for May 16, the same day as the May primary election.

Female and male GOP lawmakers joined Major at the International Women’s Day press conference, calling on House Democrats to further strengthen its new sexual harassment protections and for the new Ethics Committee to meet so it can begin accepting sexual harassment complaints.