Lonegan said Booker is 'acting ambiguous.' | AP Photos Rival: Booker gay comments 'weird'

Republican Steve Lonegan, who is running against Cory Booker for Senate in New Jersey, on Tuesday called his rival’s comments about speculation on his sexuality “weird” and said the Newark mayor was “acting ambiguous.”

Booker recently addressed rumors about his sexuality, telling The Washington Post, “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,’” Booker said.

In response, Lonegan, former mayor of Bogota, N.J., told Newsmax’s Steve Malzberg, “Maybe that helps to get him the gay vote, by acting ambiguous.”

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“It’s kind of weird,” Lonegan added. “As a guy, I personally like being a guy.”

And, Lonegan noted, “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.”

“I don’t like going out in the middle of the night or any time of the day for a manicure and pedicure. It was described as his peculiar fetish, is how it was described,” Lonegan said. “I have a more peculiar fetish; I like a good Scotch and a cigar; that’s my fetish, but we’ll just compare the two.”