'Make Politics Sexy Again': Congressional Candidate Chris Gallant Turns Old Bondage Photos Into Campaign Merch

New York congressional candidate Chris Gallant has turned resurfaced BDSM modelling photographs from his past into 'Make Politics Sexy Again' campaign merchandise, after the images were published by the New York Post in September.

The 37-year-old Black Hawk pilot is challenging Republican Representative Nick LaLota in New York's 1st Congressional District, which Democrats have not represented in more than a decade.

In September, the New York Post published images of Gallant taken for a San Francisco fetish retailer in 2010, some of them sexually explicit. Instead of quitting, as he says his team advised, he has embraced the attention, and in the latest filing period he outraised LaLota for the first time.

From Helicopter Cockpit To Campaign Spotlight

Gallant launched his campaign in August 2025 as a centrist with a classic Long Island biography. He joined the National Guard at 17, flew Black Hawks during two deployments to Kuwait, spent five years as an FAA air traffic controller at JFK airport and volunteers as a firefighter, Newsweek reported. He describes himself as a union member and gun owner.

He won the Democratic primary in June against a 25-year-old progressive, after which the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee labelled the race 'in play,' New York magazine reported.

His campaign ads showed him riding motorcycles, grilling steaks and posing beside fire trucks and American flags. His website mentioned a fiancé, Mike, but he did not campaign on his sexuality. 'I didn't run because I'm gay. I'm running on the issues,' he told the magazine.

That changed in mid-September. The New York Post reported on what it called his 'secret BDSM past,' publishing archived promotional photos he had posed for in 2010 for Mr. S Leather, a San Francisco fetish brand. Some images showed him in a harness and collar; others, according to New York magazine, were sexually explicit.

His lawyer said the shoot was consensual. Gallant said he had asked the retailer to remove the images before he ran, and it did, but copies remained available elsewhere online, including in web archives, according to Newsweek and Queerty.

'I'm Totally Unashamed of It'

Gallant says his campaign team urged him to drop out. He refused. 'Yeah, that's me. I'm not going to deny it. I'm totally unashamed of it. It's who I am,' he told New York magazine, recalling his response.

He called the leak a 'coordinated political hit' designed to push him out of the race and said he would not be 'shamed into silence'. He has described the episode as his 'Kim Kardashian moment'. 'I won't allow my private life to be distorted and weaponized against me,' he said, according to Queerty.

His campaign then turned the controversy into a branding opportunity. It released merchandise carrying the slogan 'Make Politics Sexy Again', used the phrase in a social media ad campaign and arranged for Gallant to appear on TMZ. 'I never imagined I would be international news,' he told the magazine. 'I hate some of those pictures of me.'

The reaction split along familiar lines. The Daily Show joked that he would make 'a great House majority whip', while a Breitbart pundit wrote that 'Most Americans are Normal People and they are rightly creeped out by this stuff'. LaLota had not commented on the photographs at the time of New York magazine's reporting.

Voters Largely Unmoved as Money Flows In

So far, the gamble appears not to have sunk him. 'Whatever, everyone has a social media history,' Renee McKeon, a three-time Trump voter who works in the county sheriff's office, told the New York Times, Queerty reported. Gallant's campaign manager said voters rarely raise the subject. 'Maybe the real world is not the internet,' the campaign manager told New York magazine.

At a campaign stop at a Bridgehampton bistro in early October, the mood among supporters was celebratory, though a room of admirers says little about the wider electorate. Michael Koegler, chair of the East Hampton Democratic Committee, said: 'Fifteen years ago, it might've been this huge scandal. Chris is who he is. He's not afraid of his sexuality. You know what? No one cares.'

The numbers have moved in his favour, if modestly. Decision Desk HQ put his chances of winning at 30 per cent, up two points since the leak, New York magazine reported. When the latest Federal Election Commission filings were released this week, Gallant had outraised LaLota for the first time in that reporting period, by nearly £375,000 ($500,000). The comparison covers that period only, not total fundraising over the campaign.

The district, which takes in eastern Suffolk County, including the Hamptons, remains difficult terrain. LaLota, seeking a third term, beat former CNN commentator John Avlon by about 11 points in 2024, and Queerty noted that polls show Gallant within single digits.

Gallant argues his case could open doors for others. 'There's so many good people that want to run for office that are afraid of their naked pictures coming out,' he said. 'If I have to be the person to wear the banner and make this breakthrough, I'm going to do it.'

His newest ad, released after the interview, returned to helicopters, fire trucks, grocery prices and support for the police.