Senate candidate blames hackers for lewd Twitter photos

CHANDLER, Arizona -- Steve Weichert was driving his kids to school when it all happened.

"Somebody sent me a text saying, 'What are you doing?' and I'm going, 'What? What are you talking about?'" he said. "Then they sent me a screenshot, and I'm going, 'What!?'"

The Arizona Democrat running for the state senate found at least five pornographic photos retweeted from his Twitter account, KNXV-TV reports.

"They were graphic," Weichert said. "I wasn't even willing to click on it to see where it was coming from."

Weichert claims he was the victim of hackers, who shared lewd photos with his 5,500 followers-including his teenage daughter.

"I'm praying that she didn't see that this morning," he said. "The fact that it went out there is problematic."

The Phoenix-area candidate who said he prides himself on transparency said the embarrassing photos were a bit too transparent.

Weichert is chalking it all up to a lesson about cyber security, and why you should secure your internet accounts with two-step verification, if possible.

"I use Twitter as kind of my lifeline to the people," he said, "and that's why this is so disconcerting."

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