14 Times Politicians Attended the Met Gala

The Met Gala may be known as fashion‘s biggest night out, but over the years, it’s turned into the social event of the season across a variety of industries. Indeed, attendees on the first Monday in May can more or less count on rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most famous actors, models, singers, humanitarians—and even politicians.

Here, 14 of the politicians who have made star-studded cameos at Met Galas past.

Brad Lander

The New York City comptroller—and mayoral hopeful—attended the 2024 Met Gala with his son, Marek. Lander even sweetly referenced the familial boys’ night out in a birthday post for Marek after the event, writing on Instagram: “Love what a loyal teammate, coach, brother, grandson, nephew, jet-ski & Met Gala partner, and especially son you are today & have always been (even when the dad jokes are worse than anyone should have to bear).”

Michael Bloomberg

The former mayor of New York City attended the 2024 gala alongside his daughter Georgina and longtime partner Diana Taylor. But it was hardly Bloomberg’s first appearance at the Met: his history with the gala goes back to at least 1998, when he attended with his then partner Mary Jane Salk.

Laurie Cumbo

It takes a special partner to pull off a surprise proposal on the Met Gala red carpet, and that’s exactly what Bobby Digi Olisa proved to be when he asked Laurie Cumbo, the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, to marry him in 2022. The couple married the following year.

Adrienne Adams

“Let’s go Met,” the New York City Council Speaker said when asked by City & State about her 2023 Met Gala appearance. She marked her third consecutive appearance at the gala in 2024, walking the carpet in a voluminous pink gown.

Chi Ossé

New York City council member Chi Ossé wore House of Aama to the 2022 gala for “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” following up that look with a custom suit-style garment from Advisry for the 2023 event, honoring the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld. “I was able to work with the designer Keith Herron, a young, Black creative who designs and runs the brand Advisry,” Ossé told Vogue at the time. “The garment that he put together—which referenced Karl’s 1983 Chanel collection, as well his own take on fashion—was just the most comfortable garment to wear. I felt amazing in it and received a lot of compliments.”

Keith Powers

The New York City Council District 4 representative has attended the Met Gala several times now, but he’s still charmingly down-to-earth about the whole process. “I’m just wearing the tux that I own,” Powers told City & State of his look in 2023.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The congresswoman commonly known as AOC made her Met Gala debut in 2021 with a bang, showing up to the event in a custom gown by Brother Vellies that read “TAX THE RICH” in huge red letters. “We can never get too comfortable in our seats at the table once they’ve been given,” Aurora James, the founder and creative director of Brother Vellies and the 15 Percent Pledge, said of the look at the time. “We must always continue to push ourselves, push our colleagues, push the culture, and push the country forward.”

Hillary Clinton

The former first lady and secretary of state put in her first Met Gala appearance over two decades ago, later making her triumphant return to the red carpet in custom Joseph Altuzarra in 2022. The look featured 60 women’s names embroidered along the neckline and hem, including references to Rosa Parks, Lady Bird Johnson, and Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Rodham. “It felt like something unexpected for her, which she was into,” Altuzarra said of the dress.

Carolyn Maloney

Former New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, known for her outspoken lobbying for increased gun-control measures in the US, used her fourth Met Gala appearance in 2021 to honor the suffragette movement with a purple, white, and gold Antonios Couture gown emblazoned with the words “ERA” and “Equal Rights for Women.” Two years prior, she attended in a custom New York City Fire Department jacket (and neon yellow dress).

Bill de Blasio

The former New York mayor didn’t make a habit of attending the Met Gala during his tenure, but on the occasion of his final year in office in 2021, he showed up on the red carpet with then wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante by his side. De Blasio and McCray both wore Brooklyn designers (Dreu Beckemberg and Fe Noel, respectively) to the event, with a spokesperson for the former mayor calling it “a notable way to grab people’s attention and highlight the return of the city’s fashion industry jobs” after the pandemic.

Eric Adams

New York’s proudly eccentric mayor made an appearance at the 2022 Met Gala with his partner Tracey Collins, clad in a waistcoat emblazoned with the phrase “End Gun Violence” on the back.

Caroline Kennedy

When former United States Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy attended the 2017 Met Gala, honoring Rei Kawakubo’s visionary work at Comme des Garçons, she took the year’s theme very seriously, walking the Met steps (alongside her son, Jack Schlossberg) in a voluminous tiered Comme des Garçons babydoll dress—and a pair of sensible black heels.

Her first appearance at the gala, however, came 16 years earlier, when the Costume Institute honored her late mother with the show “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.”

Christine Quinn

No, not the Selling Sunset star—the former Speaker of the City Council! This particular Christine Quinn attended the Met Gala with her wife, lawyer Kim Catullo, in 2009 to celebrate “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.” (And it wasn’t her first time: Two years earlier, Quinn sported a chic black number to the gala for “Poiret: King of Fashion.”)

Ronald (and Nancy) Reagan

Between his terms as governor of California and president of the United States, Reagan attended the 1977 Met Gala—this, during the Diana Vreeland years—to celebrate “Vanity Fair: A Treasure Trove.”