Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance has yet to comment on recently resurfaced photos of him in a woman’s costume – but not surprisingly, former Congressman George Santos has a lot to say.
On Sunday, a photo went viral on social media showing the Republican vice presidential candidate wearing a blonde wig and long dress – in part because of the contrast to the tough stance that many GOP members take towards drag queens and the LGBTQ+ community.
The photo reportedly dates back to 2012, when Vance was a student at Yale Law School. A second photo was posted on social media on Monday. Although Vance’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment from HuffPost, it did not deny to The Daily Beast that the photos were authentic.
Santos, who served as a Republican U.S. representative for New York, stressed that Vance did not do real drag, but only wore a dress.
“To call it drag is dishonest and I think most guys have played around with costumes that are gender benders at some point in their lives,” the controversial former congressman told TMZ. “Couples do it all the time. The woman dresses up as a man, the man dresses up as a woman. That’s definitely not drag.”
Santos, who dressed up as Kitara Ravache, is amused by the reaction to the viral photos – which, in his eyes, simply show a guy who “went to a costume party and put on a damn cheap wig from Party City or something like that.”
“It’s so funny that people are so obsessed with someone wearing women’s clothes or wearing a wig,” he added. “In my case, 18 years ago, when I was a minor and nobody batted an eyelid when I did something I did as a kid and enjoyed it.”
As The New Republic notes, for many, the problem is not the fact that Vance dressed in women’s clothing for a costume party, but his hypocrisy. Vance has made many statements against the LGBTQ+ community, including using the term “groomer” when discussing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. In 2023, he introduced a bill that would criminalize gender-affirming grooming of minors.
Drag queens have become a popular target for right-wing activists and politicians, with lawmakers in several states targeting events where drag queens read books to children.
Santos, on the other hand, has made money by recording Cameo messages under the nickname Kitara, charging $600 a pop, since he was expelled from Congress in December after it was revealed that he had misappropriated thousands of dollars in campaign funds.
However, the former politician did not have any kind words for Vance’s outfit in the photos: “Holy shit, is that bad drag?” and added: “If that’s drag, then I guess all those other drag queens on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ can all be considered cisgender women by now.”
Santos also doubted that Vance’s vice presidential candidate, Donald Trump, would make a big fuss about the photos.
“Absolutely not. I mean, don’t forget, Donald Trump motorboated with Rudy Giuliani in a drag suit for a charity. So what are we talking about? This is silly,” he said.
HuffPost reached out to Vance’s team for comment on Santos’ defense of the photos, but there was no immediate response.
You can see Santos’ full comments below.
