{"id":300206,"date":"2026-07-19T21:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300206\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T21:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:04:53","slug":"sen-ruben-gallego-had-sexual-relationships-with-two-house-aides-sources-reveal-to-the-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300206\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ruben Gallego had sexual relationships with two House aides, sources reveal to The Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego<\/a>, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, engaged in sexual relationships with at least two House staffers and his \u201cvery flirtatious\u201d habits with others may come back to haunt him, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old lawmaker admitted to the two relationships \u2014 both with aides to Texas Democrats \u2014 to one source while a second person said they had recently learned of the romantic entanglements.<\/p>\n

A third source confirmed one of the dalliances, both of which are said to have been consensual and occurred during Gallego\u2019s decade representing Phoenix in the House.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, looks at a phone while riding the Senate Subway during a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. Sources tell The Post he had sexual relationships with two House staffers.
Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The relationships are part of a broader \u201cpattern of mistakes and missteps and judgment calls,\u201d one source said, noting the imbalanced power dynamics of an elected official dating staffers. One of the women was in her 20s and much younger than Gallego at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else could there be out there?\u201d this person asked.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Senate Ethics Committee dismissed a complaint brought against Gallego<\/a> by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) that alleged campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct against the Democrat, who was elected to the Senate in 2024.<\/p>\n

The panel, chaired by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), \u201cdidn\u2019t ask\u201d about Gallego\u2019s relationships with the staffers \u2014 likely because it was unaware \u2014 and instead \u201cfocused squarely on what Luna presented to them,\u201d an insider said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthics looked in the wrong place,\u201d this person summed up the congressional probe.<\/p>\n

Gallego\u2019s office and the two House staffers did not respond to The Post\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Minutes after this article was published, the senator gave a non-denial to an NBC News journalist on Capitol Hill,\u00a0uttering<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m not going to engage in gossip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallego is considered a 2028 presidential contender by Democrats. Getty Images<\/p>\n

When asked if The Post\u2019s reporting was accurate, Gallego again said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to engage in gossip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sputtered, \u201cI\u2019m not \u2014 I\u2019m focused on this right now\u201d when asked by Fox News about Gallego\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n

Sources said it\u2019s believed both relationships occurred while Gallego was unmarried.<\/p>\n

Rumors have swirled about Gallego\u2019s personal life following the April resignation of his best friend in Congress<\/a>, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), amid claims by multiple women that Swalwell sexually harassed or assaulted them. Gallego has denied knowledge of Swalwell\u2019s alleged misconduct.<\/p>\n

Luna claimed in a CBS News\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0April 16 that a woman was preparing to speak out about an \u201cincident\u201d involving Gallego and Swalwell \u201cat the same time, and the event was sexual in nature, allegedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 23, Luna claimed on social media<\/a> that \u201cI have now heard of 4 women who have had multiple and uncomfortable\/inappropriate advances\/comments\/touching, etc. from Senator Gallego.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallego responded to the Ethics Committee\u2019s dismissal of Luna\u2019s complaint by calling the allegations <\/a>\u201cright-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies\u201d and demanding an apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news about DC is everyone talks, and eventually the reporters come forward with your texts,\u201d Luna responded in an\u00a0X post<\/a>. \u201cDo yourself a favor and keep raising for your legal defense fund. Once a creep always a creep, and you\u2019re gonna need it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gallego married his current wife, Sydney, in December 2019 <\/a>\u2014 after they reportedly met <\/a>at the June 2018 Congressional Baseball Game.<\/p>\n

He filed for divorce <\/a>from his first wife, Kate, 10 days before Christmas in 2016 when she was nine months pregnant. The divorce was granted in April 2017.<\/p>\n

AZ. Senator Ruben Gallego with Sydney Gallego and their kids: daughter Isla and son Cooper.
Facebook\/Ruben Gallego<\/p>\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) was already under a Senate ethics investigation. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Luna responded to The Post\u2019s report on X<\/a>: \u201cTime to resign. Glad people are going on record about this creep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis scumbag doesn\u2019t deserve the privilege of representing the people of Arizona,\u201d wrote <\/a>Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.). \u201cRuben Gallego should follow his buddy Swalwell\u2019s lead and resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) added<\/a>: \u201cCongress needs to step up, do the right thing, and force expulsion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relationships between lawmakers and their direct subordinates were banned in 2018 and there\u2019s a post-Swalwell push underway to ban relations with all congressional staff.<\/p>\n

Sexual encounters between representatives and staff from other offices generally are not banned by congressional ethics rules. Other conduct such as sexual harassment is not allowed.<\/p>\n

Internal investigations, however, can turn up damaging information.<\/p>\n

For example, The Post reported April 18 that Rep. Jimmy Gomez <\/a>(D-Calif.) \u2014 a close friend of Gallego and Swalwell and the third member of their so-called \u201cCool Kids Clique\u201d \u2014 was spotted kissing a Swalwell aide at a DC house party in the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n

Gomez confessed in June <\/a>to cheating on his wife after CNN reported<\/a> that the House Ethics Committee \u201clearned of other allegations of sexual misconduct\u201d against him while investigating the initial Post report.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf the Ethics Committee comes back and says, \u2018We are opening an investigation,\u2019 question one [for Gallego] is: \u2018Did you ever have relationships with any staff member during your time in Congress?’\u201d a source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if there are more that he has to list, and he can\u2019t lie about that because, you know, it\u2019s a sworn [statement].\u201d<\/p>\n

A Democratic operative who has interacted with Gallego said she found news of the staffer relationships \u201cnot surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have witnessed firsthand his very flirtatious nature after a couple of drinks,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe he thinks he\u2019s being charming? I don\u2019t know. Guy gives me the creeps. I\u2019ve always steered clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., left, and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., were close friends in the House.
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long, bipartisan tradition of members of Congress having personal baggage. \u201cPro-life\u201d Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) has been re-elected repeatedly despite the revelations in 2023<\/a> that he had urged abortions for both his ex-wife and mistress.<\/p>\n

Many members of Congress resign in the face of sexual scandals, however, including former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who stepped down in 2019 due to a relationship with a campaign aide.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) resigned over an affair with a district staffer who killed herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to the senator\u2019s personal life, Gallego faces another headache in the form of a Justice Department investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds to<\/a> attend the Super Bowl\u00a0in 2023 as well as to take vacations to St. Barts, Disney World and Disneyland. Gallego said the Trump DOJ was \u201ctargeting\u201d him for political reasons.<\/p>\n

Despite the controversies, another Democratic insider told The Post Gallego still hopes to occupy the Oval Office someday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to, but it\u2019s getting harder,\u201d this source said. \u201cIf he changes his behavior and actually locks in, he could do it. It would be hard. But I don\u2019t see it right now. It\u2019s unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, engaged in sexual relationships with at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1458,858,2132,22680,44556,9,11,10,87,83107,855,113985,7316,58],"class_list":["post-300206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-arizona","tag-congress","tag-democrats","tag-eric-swalwell","tag-ethics-complaint","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-presidential-election-2028","tag-senate","tag-senate-ethics-committee","tag-us-house-of-representatives","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}