Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego will run for Senate, he announced Monday, setting up a general election showdown with Independent Kyrsten Sinema.
Gallego, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, blasted Sinema throughout the 117th Congress for her opposition to various left-wing priorities. He floated a primary challenge to the freshman senator, but she left the Democratic Party in December to ensure that she would automatically advance to the general election.
“Most families feel that they are one or two paychecks away from going under. That is not the way that we should be living in this country,” Gallego said in an announcement video posted to Twitter. “The rich and the powerful, they don’t need more advocates. It’s the people that are still trying to decide between groceries and utilities that need a fighter for them. There is no lobbyist for working families.”
Growing up poor, all I had was the American dream. It kept me going: as a kid sleeping on the floor, a student scrubbing toilets, a Marine losing brothers in Iraq.
Today, too many Arizonans see their dream slipping away. I’m running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you! pic.twitter.com/ofUvUYRcTP
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) January 23, 2023
A fifth-term representative from Phoenix, Gallego fought in the Iraq War as a member of Lima Company, which suffered the most casualties of any unit in the war.
Gallego’s district leans 24 points towards the Democrats, according to the Cook Political Report. He supports single-payer healthcare and nationalizing election law. His attacks on Sinema intensified after she refused to vote to abolish the filibuster to pass congressional Democrats’ election nationalization package. (RELATED: ‘A Hell Of A Lot Of Guts’: Mitch McConnell Praises Kyrsten Sinema At The University Of Louisville)
Sinema won her first Senate election by 2.4 points in 2018, while Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly won bids in 2020 and 2022 by 2.4 and 4.9 points, respectively. President Joe Biden won the state by 0.4 points in 2020.