The 67-year-old Herbster, meanwhile, has denied the allegations against him, which have become a late focal point in the race. While a new POLITICO/Morning Consult national poll showed that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to call accusations of sexual misconduct against a candidate a “major problem,” 66 percent of Republicans did say that would be a “major problem for that candidate to earn your support.”

One of the women accusing Herbster, state Sen. Julie Slama, said that during a Republican Party function in 2019, Herbster reached up her skirt without her consent. The Nebraska Examiner, the political website which broke the story, also quoted a witness to the incident who confirmed Slama’s account.

During his press conference, Herbster said he was later invited to Slama’s wedding in the Dominican Republic and that she solicited a contribution from him, asserting that “those don’t seem to be the normal responses of someone who has done something very, very wrong to them.”