The Democratic Party has done it again — fielded a candidate so spectacularly unvetted that the opposition barely needs to lift a finger. The New York Post reports that Chris Gallant, the 37-year-old Democratic nominee running against Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota in New York’s 1st Congressional District, posed for a series of graphic BDSM photographs for “Mr. S Leather,” a San Francisco-based fetish sex shop — while serving in the Army National Guard.
The images, which were accessible online between 2011 and 2020, show Gallant in collars, leather straps, neoprene, and bondage gear. Some of the shots depict hardcore pornographic content, including muzzles, blindfolds, and Gallant smiling inside a cage. Facial recognition software matched the images to Gallant, confirmed by an identical blemish on his left temple and his distinctive earlobe shape. Additional images surfaced on unaffiliated gay porn sites, spreading well beyond the original retailer’s pages.
Gallant has served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the National Guard since 2006, according to his LinkedIn — meaning the timeline of his fetish modeling overlaps directly with his military service. He also worked as an FAA air traffic controller and served as a local union chapter leader. His high-powered attorney, Sara Azari — the same lawyer who represented disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell — confirmed the photos are authentic. “The photographs are authentic and were taken during a private, consensual photo session involving Chris and his then-partner,” Azari told The Post. She insisted the images “have no bearing on Chris’s record, qualifications, judgment, or ability to serve.”
Of course they don’t. That’s what they always say when the scandal is too big to deny and too damning to explain.
This is the same Democratic primary that produced Gallant only after his opponent, 25-year-old NYU grad Lukas Ventouras, was caught liking antisemitic memes online. The party’s bench in this district is so thin that voters had to choose between an antisemite and a candidate whose most recent commercial appearance was marketing a “Simple Posture Collar” for $89.95. The Cook Political Report already rates the seat “solid Republican,” and it’s not hard to see why.
This is a window into what happens when a political party stops caring about character, judgment, and basic vetting. Democrats are so consumed with checking identity boxes and winning back suburban seats that they will put virtually anyone on the ballot — no matter what’s lurking in the internet archives. Americans who serve in uniform deserve leaders who take that honor seriously. Voters on Long Island deserve a candidate who doesn’t need a crisis attorney on speed dial before the first debate. They already have one in Nick LaLota.
Source: nypost.com