Long Island House candidate Chris Gallant embraces the fallout from his fetish photo shoot

Chris Gallant is not running away from the photos.

The Democrat, who is challenging Republican Rep. Nick LaLota in a Long Island congressional district, has been under scrutiny since the New York Post reported last month that he had appeared in explicit promotional images for a San Francisco leather and fetish brand.

"Make Politics Sexy Again"

In a new interview with The New York Times, Gallant said his friends have long known about that side of him and joked that he makes the "Fifty Shades" character Christian Grey look like a beginner. He said the photos were taken nearly 17 years ago, that no one pressured him into them and that he simply enjoyed it.

Rather than hide, he is leaning in. He joked that this could be his "Kim Kardashian moment" and is launching an ad built around the slogan "Make Politics Sexy Again."

Still in the race

His attorney has previously said the shoot was consensual and connected to a past relationship. Gallant told the Times the attention has at least solved one problem for his campaign: name recognition. He said that if his own family could accept him, he figured voters could too.