Explicit photos surface of Long Island House candidate Chris Gallant

WASHINGTON — A Long Island Democrat and Army National Guard helicopter pilot who is seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota has previously modeled in photos selling black leather straps, collars and other fetish or bondage gear.

Chris Gallant, 37, of Amity Harbor, also has posed in a photo session of consensual acts with another man — his then-partner — his lawyer, Sara Azari, confirmed in response to reports in The New York Post and Messenger Papers.

"Yeah, that’s me," Gallant said on Monday of the photos, in a text message sent to his campaign supporters.

"I’m not embarrassed or ashamed — I have always been unapologetically me," Gallant said.

Some of the photos, according to the news reports, were online between 2011 and 2020. They surfaced from information provided by unnamed tipsters and images unearthed from internet archives and other sources, the reports said.

In June, Gallant won the Democratic nomination to take on LaLota for the Suffolk County-based New York Congressional District 1 seat. There was no immediate response to Newsday requests for comment directly from Gallant or his campaign aides.

But Azari, a Los Angeles and New York-based attorney, said an email statement she provided "addresses everything there is to know. There are no further comments."

In that statement, Azari acknowledged that at least some of the photos being reported are genuine. "The photographs are authentic and were taken during a private, consensual photo session involving Chris and his then-partner, with whom he was in a committed four-year relationship."

She also confirmed that other pictures of Gallant were taken for "Mr. S Leather," a San Francisco-based outlet. Its website says it has been selling "Bondage/BDSM Gear" and other products since 1979.

Azari explained, "Chris was also friends with the owner of Mr. S Leather, and the shoot was intended to be fun and personal, with the understanding that Mr. S could use select images in connection with certain products."

She added that as Gallant began considering a future in public service, "he asked that the photographs no longer be used and that they be removed from the company’s website. Mr. S honored his request."

"These photographs have no bearing on Chris’s record, qualifications, judgment or ability to serve," she said. "He remains fully committed to his campaign and to earning the trust of the people he seeks to represent."

Gallant’s campaign website says he has served in the Army National Guard since he was 17. He also serves as a volunteer firefighter and previously worked as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller.

Non-partisan political handicappers have been viewing the congressional race as solidly in LaLota’s favor. But they’ve also been underscoring that momentum shifts could occur as Democrats fight for a net pickup of just three seats this fall to flip the majority of the 435-member chamber.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-Brooklyn) political arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on Monday had no comment on the Gallant photos. The DCCC has not specifically endorsed Gallant as among candidates nationwide it is actively supporting but had identified the district as among those it views as "in play."

Suffolk County Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer issued a statement Monday backing Gallant.

“Chris Gallant is a Guardsman, firefighter, air traffic controller, union leader, and Suffolk County’s next Democratic congressman,” Schaffer said. “The Suffolk County Democratic Committee is PROUD to fight for Chris Gallant.” 

Gallant has openly shared that he is a gay man in interviews and social media, including on Instagram. He’s also talked about navigating that fact while serving as an Army National Guard pilot.

"I am Democrat Chris Gallant, and when I turned 17, I immediately joined the New York Army National Guard," he’s explained on Facebook. "But until Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ended, I couldn’t be open about who I was, even as I served our country." He talks about being deployed multiple times to Kuwait.

In his email to supporters on Monday, Gallant says, "these pictures" don’t make him less qualified to be a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, or less qualified to have been deployed to the Middle East or to safely traffic commercial airliners. "They don’t impact how fast I can get into a burning building."

"I know you know how much of an uphill battle we have, but these attacks on my identity have just made me stronger in my values and convictions," he says.