Newark Mayor Cory Booker isn’t gay , but his New Jersey Senate opponent thinks it’s “weird” that the popular pol won’t just come out and say it.
In a Washington Post profile , Booker laughed off rumors that he is gay, but said that his sexual orientation shouldn’t matter to voters anyway.
“And people who think I’m gay, some part of me thinks it’s wonderful. Because I want to challenge people on their homophobia. I love seeing on Twitter when someone says I’m gay, and I say, ‘So what does it matter if I am? So be it. I hope you are not voting for me because you are making the presumption that I’m straight,’” he said.
New Jersey GOP Senate candidate Steve Lonegan seemed to miss his opponent’s point completely, opining Tuesday that he thinks it’s strange that Booker won’t come right out and say he’s heterosexual.
“It’s kind of weird. As a guy, I personally like being a guy. I don’t know if you saw the stories last year. They’ve been out for quite a bit about how he likes to go out at three o’clock in the morning for a manicure and a pedicure,” he told Newsmax .
Though Booker dates here and there, he said that he simply doesn’t wish to shove a woman he is seeing into the spotlight.
“Because how unfair is it to a young lady to put them in the spotlight if they haven’t signed up for that yet?” he reasoned.
Booker is considered a shoe-in for the Senate seat he and Lonegan are running for. The special election to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg will take place on October 16.