U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is defending himself after leaked personal text messages showed him mocking fellow Democrats’ looks and criticizing them for not conforming to traditional gender norms.
In the texts, which were leaked to right-wing outlets, Gallego and a friend discuss his political future. At one point, the friend suggests that “somebody with a cool head and a solid plan could rise to the top” of the Democratic Party, according to People magazine.
“Oh man have you met my party?” Gallego replied. “I have been yelling at them this whole time.”
Gallego’s friend clarified that they were talking about the senator taking charge of the Democratic Party’s direction. “Seriously your [sic] getting a lot of great press, start making the moves as much of a pain in the ass you are I believe you could become the one who rebuilds and leads them,” they wrote.
The friend then shared an insulting meme featuring 82-year-old U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who is known on Capitol Hill for her short-cropped, purple-streaked hair. The meme reads: “If erectile dysfunction had a face.”
After sharing the meme, Gallego’s friend wrote, “This is how the world views many [Democrats]…”
“They aren’t wrong,” Gallego replied, following up with “We look like the not fun party. Always telling and correcting people. Not allowing men to be men. Women to be hot. We used to be the party of sec [sic] drugs and rock and roll. Now Dem women look like Dem men and Dem men look like women.”
In an interview with Phoenix ABC affiliate KNXV, Gallego did not deny sending the texts, saying they echoed criticisms he has made publicly about his own party. He called it “heartbreaking” that someone he considered a close friend — and had served with — leaked a private conversation.
“I’m more sad about the situation that a friend of mine decided to exploit the situation,” he told the station. He also defended the overall sentiment of the texts, arguing that the Democratic Party has become too judgmental and censorious about politically incorrect speech, especially when it comes from heterosexual, cisgender men.
“I don’t think the Democratic Party is as inclusive as it should be — that’s what I’m trying to point out,” Gallego said. “We should be a party that takes everybody in… our tent is getting too small and we need to actually expand the tent to more people…. [At] least we have certain core values, and we shouldn’t be trying to exclude more people.”
The 46-year-old former Marine, who made history in 2024 as the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona, after five terms in the U.S. House, has been mentioned among political handicappers as a potential 2028 presidential contender, largely because of his strong showings with male voters and Latino voters — two groups that shifted sharply toward Donald Trump in the last presidential election.
He also outperformed other Democrats with non-college-educated voters, a bloc that has largely drifted away from the party in the post-Obama era.
While Gallego built a progressive record in the House, he ran for Senate on a more socially moderate, economically populist platform, frequently criticizing national Democrats for struggling to connect with voters and for relying on simplistic views of Latino voters, especially Latino men.
Like several other Democratic lawmakers, Gallego has echoed conservative talking points on transgender inclusion in sports. In a May interview with the right-wing outlet The Dispatch, he called concerns about fairness and athlete safety in female-designated sports “legitimate.”
However, Gallego has stopped short of endorsing categorical bans on trans participation. Instead, he has argued for more local control over athlete eligibility and at what age sports should be sex-segregated. He has also suggested that parents encourage transgender athletes who do not want to compete as their birth gender to pursue other activities.
Transgender journalist Erin Reed criticized Gallego in her Erin in the Morning Substack, accusing him of trying to “court a strain of American politics that judges people for who they love, how they experience their gender, and the diversity of their lives.”
She argued that Gallego has adopted a right-leaning view of gender expression, blaming “gender variance, the visibility of trans people, and a perceived loss of ‘masculinity’ for the [Democratic] party’s challenges rather than addressing material needs.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a policy mandating that U.S. passports list a traveler’s sex as assigned at birth, based on biological characteristics.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes, effectively erasing transgender identity. The order, which pledged to uphold "the biological reality of sex," directed the State Department to revise its passport policies to "accurately reflect the holder's sex."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is defending both his record on transgender rights and his evolving stance on transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
Newsom drew backlash from LGBTQ advocates and progressives after saying it was "unfair" for transgender teenagers to compete against cisgender girls in track and field, during a March podcast interview with the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Since then, critics have accused Newsom -- who's widely seen as harboring presidential ambitions -- of throwing the transgender community under the bus for political gain.
History was made in Pennsylvania several weeks ago, when Erica Deuso became not only her town's first transgender elected official, but the first transgender mayor to be elected in Pennsylvania history.
Deuso's identity -- and the historic nature of her candidacy -- were not the focus of her campaign for mayor of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Instead, the 45-year-old focused on kitchen-table issues and the nuts and bolts of governing a small city in an exurban county outside Philadelphia.
"After I won my primary, The Philadelphia Inquirer did a story about it, noting, 'This person could be the first trans mayor in Pennsylvania.' But that's not what I was running on," says Deuso. "Everybody I met was really focused on what was in it for their families. What was I going to do about flooding? What am I going to do about public safety? And I kid you not, the first person who approached me, after I found out that I won, was talking to me about a speed bump in their neighborhood."
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