The former chief of staff to a California state senator who recently left the Democratic Party to become a Republican filed a lawsuit against her on Thursday alleging she sexually harassed him, created a hostile workplace and fired him in retaliation for rejecting her sexual advances.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges that throughout much of 2023, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Jackson) “engaged in an erratic, controlling and sexually dominant abuse of authority and power” against her chief of staff, Chad Condit.
“This was a sex-based exchange relationship, involving unwanted advances and sexual behavior, along with punishment and displays of power,” according to the lawsuit, which also names the California State Senate as a defendant.
Alvarado-Gil's lawyer denied the allegations.
“A disgruntled former employee fabricated a wild story, presented without evidence, to secure a paycheck. We hope the senator will be completely cleared of any wrongdoing related to these false and financially motivated claims,” attorney Ognian Gavrilov said in a statement provided to The Times by the Senate Republican caucus.
Alvarado-Gil was elected as a Democrat in 2022 in a solidly Republican district encompassing a rural region northeast of the Central Valley. Her election was largely seen as a fluke of California’s top-two primary system, after the crowded Republican field split the GOP vote in June and paved the way for two Democrats to advance to the general election despite receiving only a combined 41% of the vote. Alvarado-Gil won that November.
Alvarado-Gil switched political parties in August and joined the Republican caucus in the state Senate after criticizing Democratic leadership.
Condit was Alvarado-Gil's campaign manager in 2022 and later joined her state office as chief of staff.
The suit alleges that early in his tenure, Alvarado-Gil began “cheating on Plaintiff and sharing personal and intimate details” of his life, including his love life, divorces and marital infidelity. Alvarado-Gil openly discussed “his vices,” according to the complaint, “which included sex and the use of the drug ayahuasca and taking gummies.”
According to the complaint, Alvarado-Gil consistently made inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments to Condit, and used his position to exert dominance and power over him. In March 2023, for example, Alvarado-Gil allegedly asked Condit his opinion on “triplerías” and whether he and his wife would be willing to have one.
He also reportedly made comments suggesting he “would be open to having a sexual relationship with her” because his father, former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, was famously accused of having an affair with Washington intern Chandra Levy. Levy was murdered in 2001, and Condit Sr. was initially investigated for her killing in a scandal that consumed the nation in the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks. Her death remains unsolved.
The sexually explicit comments eventually turned physical, according to the complaint.
At one point, during a work trip to Inyo County, Chad Condit alleged that Alvarado-Gil demanded that he prove his loyalty “by performing oral sex on her.” Condit and Alvarado-Gil were driving, according to the lawsuit, and stopped to use the bathroom. After Condit returned to the car, “she pulled down her pants and said, ‘I want you to kiss him and prove your loyalty.’”
“After months of creating a dominant-submissive relationship, Plaintiff became desensitized and acted thoughtlessly and from there Alvarado-Gil established her ability to dominate him,” the lawsuit states.
Condit allegedly performed the sexual act on several occasions, according to the complaint.
“During the last occasion that Plaintiff performed oral sex as demanded by Alvarado-Gil, Plaintiff sustained a back injury while performing oral sex in the car seat and his body had to twist and contort in the confined space of the car,” according to the lawsuit. “Plaintiff later went to the doctor and discovered that the injury was more severe and that Plaintiff had suffered three herniated disks in his back and a collapsed hip.”
Condit subsequently underwent hip surgery to repair his injuries.
Condit did not respond to a text message or call from The Times, and his lawyers could not be reached for comment. The lawsuit claims that Condit’s “personal and professional relationships have been forever altered, and that his work history and opportunities in public employment have been irreparably damaged and will never be the same.”
Condit's complaint extends beyond sexual favors and includes allegations that Alvarado-Gil used him to run errands, transport her daughter and care for her dog.
By late summer 2023, Condit had begun to distance himself from Alvarado-Gil’s alleged advances, according to the suit, which said the senator and her deputy chief of staff, a childhood friend, went to the Senate clerk “to get Plaintiff fired as punishment and retaliation.” They later sent him a “false disciplinary letter containing allegations of inappropriate behavior” that Alvarado-Gil allegedly made against him.
The suit also alleges that Alvarado-Gil took steps to get close to Condit’s wife and “put himself in a position of control” over the couple’s lives, including hiring Condit’s wife for his March 2023 campaign and seeing the same beautician. Later that summer, after Condit allegedly began rejecting Alvarado-Gil’s advances, the senator went to his home “and falsely told his wife that Plaintiff was seeing someone to cause her distress.”
In December, the lawsuit claims Alvardo-Gil texted Condit that he had been fired and that she tried to convince him to resign by offering to hire his wife.
The suit also claims that Senate Secretary Erika Contreras “blindly accepted Alvarado-Gil’s retaliatory actions against Plaintiff and ratified her abuse of him.”
In a statement, Contreras acknowledged the lawsuit but said the Senate has not been notified.
“We are in discussions with counsel to assess next steps,” Contreras wrote. “The Senate takes all complaints very seriously, but cannot comment on matters related to pending litigation.”
