Veteran Chris Gallant, the gay Democrat who challenged incumbent Rep. Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District, is projected to lose the close race, 49% to 51%, with 90% of the votes counted, the New York Times reports.
On social media, though, Gallant is not conceding, stressing that he believes the race is “too close to call.”
This past September, the New York Post published some sexual pictures of Gallant that he posed for when he was young, putting his race in the national spotlight. But he didn’t let it faze him, turning it into a chance to discuss how many future candidates will have online pasts.
“We, as LGBTQ [people] in general, are often targeted, and I think this gives me an opportunity to be an advocate,” he told LGBTQ Nation. “This is our private lives, and we’ve all lived in a digital age. My entire life has been in a digital age. We grew up with the internet, and I see a lot of good people that are too scared to get into the political world or get into some kind of public life because of what pictures might be floating around the internet.”
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