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On Long Island, Chris Gallant’s response to racy leaked images shows the real scandal isn’t his

Published October 22, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)

Congressional candidate Chris Gallant at the NAACP Huntington Meet the Candidates Night held in Huntington Station, New York, on Oct. 15, 2026. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

For the better part of its final decade, Rawhide was my bar. The old leather place on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea was dark in the way that mattered, a judgment-free room where the only thing anyone asked of you was that you be yourself. There was the Eagle down the street, a bigger playground, but Rawhide was rawer, closer to the bone, and it happened to sit practically next to my apartment, which made it the place I dropped into on my way home or to kick off a night.

Most nights I was a simple man at the end of the bar, taking in the spectacle, listening, watching.…