Democratic congressional nominee Mitchell Berman has presented himself to voters in Wisconsin’s 1st District as a “devoted husband.” Yet, thanks to the 2015 Ashley Madison data breach, we now know that Berman was busy browsing for extramarital excitement right around the time he tied the knot, according to a Washington Free Beacon report.
Berman, a nurse by trade and the Democrats’ pick to take on Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, is directly tied to an Ashley Madison account, using his own Yahoo email, no less. That same email surfaced in a complaint Berman himself filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2022.
The account recorded a $268 transaction on Feb. 24, 2015, and a $19 transaction on March 26, 2015. Berman married his wife Jillian in January 2015, according to social media posts marking their anniversaries. The larger payment aligns with Ashley Madison’s “affair guarantee” package, which was offered to premium customers at the time.
But wait, there’s more: a 2016 breach of Adult Friend Finder, another digital playground for the commitment-averse, also links Berman’s email to an account active as recently as October 2016.
Berman’s campaign, caught red-handed, admits the accounts are his. The excuse? Selective memory. He says he dabbled in online dating during his 20s while working night shifts, met his wife on eHarmony, and simply forgot about the rest.
These revelations surface just as Berman tries to topple Steil in a district Republicans have held for decades. He’s been busy selling himself as the salt-of-the-earth family man, laser-focused on health care and the daily grind of Wisconsin life. The reality, less so.
Voters will decide whether the gap between the campaign image and the digital trail matters. The Ashley Madison records raise another set of questions about the character of the man seeking a seat in Congress.
