Potential 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Ruben Gallego trashed his own party as preachy scolds who don’t let “men be men” in shocking leaked text messages.
Gallego (D-Ariz.), who said he was “heartbroken” that the exchange with a friend of two decades was made public, also lamented that Dems were no longer the “party of [sex], drugs, and rock and roll,” the messages published on X Tuesday by Human Events founder Jack Posobiec show.
“Now Dem women look like Dem men and Dem men look like women,” he vented at one point.
The senator’s friend, who joked about being Gallego’s “Republican consultant,” had buttered him up at the start of the conversation, arguing that “somebody with a cool head and a solid plan could rise to the top” of the Democratic Party.
“Oh man have you met my party?” Gallego asked in response. “I have been yelling at them this whole time.”
The senator’s friend then texted a meme featuring Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and the caption “if erectile dysfunction had a face.”
“This is how the world views many of them,” the correspondent teased.
“They aren’t wrong!” Gallego shot back.
“We look like the not fun party,” he went on. “Always telling and correcting people.”
“Not allowing no men to men [sic],” he added. “Women to be hot.”
“We used to be the party of sec [sic] drugs and rock and roll.”
It was not clear whom Gallego was texting in the leaked exchange. The Post reached out to his office for comment.
After the messages circulated online, Gallego said his friend had “tried to exploit the situation.”
“It’s very heartbreaking that someone that I’ve served with and that I’ve known for 20 years decided to leak some of these messages, but I’ve been very clear about where I think the party needs to be,” he told Phoenix TV station ABC15.
“I think we have to be an open and bigger tent party,” Gallego continued, adding that his comments were “a reflection of what I’ve been saying the whole time.”
Gallego, a former Marine, was elected to the Senate last year after spending a decade in the House of Representatives.
In May, the 46-year-old made waves for admitting that parents who want to bar trans women from girls’ sports have “legitimate” concerns.
“As a parent of a daughter, I think it’s legitimate that parents are worried about the safety of their daughters, and I think it’s legitimate for us to be worried also about fair competition,” Gallego told The Dispatch.
“And I think the parents of these trans children also are worried, legitimately, about the health and wellness of their kids.”
Gallego has stoked 2028 presidential buzz in recent months by visiting key early voting states, including Iowa and New Hampshire.
