WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego announced Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat from Arizona currently held by centrist Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic Party in December to become an independent.
“As a Marine, I never back down from a fight and in the Senate, I will fight to make sure all Arizonans have the same opportunity I had in the American Dream,” Gallego said in a statement.
Gallego launched his campaign with videos in English and Spanish, highlighting his humble beginnings as the son of an immigrant mother. If elected, he would become the first Latino senator in what has become one of the most competitive states in the country.
A Sinema aide declined to comment on Gallego’s announcement.
Gallego is the first great candidate to jump into the race. His long-awaited campaign comes when Sinema’s intentions remain a mystery; The first-term senator has not said whether she will run for re-election as an independent in 2024.
“A never-ending focus on campaign politics is the reason so many people hate politics,” Sinema saying local radio station KTAR on Friday.
If he runs, it could become a three-way race in the general election, with the Republicans almost certainly fielding a nominee. Some Democrats fear that could play into the hands of the Republican Party.
In his Monday statement, Gallego said: “The problem is not that Sen. Sinema abandoned the Democratic Party, it’s that she abandoned Arizona. She has repeatedly broken her promises and fought for Big Pharma and Wall Street interests at our expense. I’m running for US Senate because the rich and powerful don’t need more advocates in Washington, but families who can’t afford food do.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said in a news release Monday that it “welcomes” Gallego to the race.
“The Democratic civil war is underway in Arizona,” said his spokesman, Philip Letsou. “Chuck Schumer has a choice: support Rubén Gallego, open-border radical, or support his incumbent, Senator Kyrsten Sinema.”
Who else could run?
It is not clear what competition Gallego will have in the primaries. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., has said he will not run. A close ally of Democrat Paul Penzone, Maricopa County Sheriff, said “a lot of people have reached out to him” but for now he is focused on a 2024 sheriff’s re-election bid.
On the Republican side, a source close to failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said that “a lot of people are urging her to run” but that she is “heavily involved in the legal battle” over the race she lost in the midterm elections. period.
Karrin Taylor Robson, who narrowly lost to Lake in the 2022 primary after spending $20 million of her family’s money, is seriously considering a run for the Senate, a source close to her said. If she runs, she would make a play to win back Republicans and independents who once supported the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and have turned away from the GOP, the source said.
Blake Masters, a Republican Senate candidate who lost in 2022, is “seriously considering” another run this cycle, two sources said.
And Mark Lamb, the Pinal County sheriff, is also considering a 2024 Senate run, an Arizona Republican source said.
Sinema against Gallego
Sinema became the first Democrat in 30 years to be elected to the Senate from Arizona in 2018. In recent years, she has struck numerous bipartisan deals and has broken with President Joe Biden on some of his top priorities, including higher tax rates for the wealthy, weaken the Senate’s 60-vote rule to pass a federal voting rights law, and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She has received criticism from Arizona Democrats and has cut ties with the state party.
A Gallego adviser said he is prepared for a two-way race if Sinema steps aside or a three-way race if she decides to participate.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said the strategy of framing it as a battle of who is “fighting for workers” versus “fighting for Wall Street” will also work against Sinema, if she runs. as the eventual Republican nominee.
“She has no basis,” said the Galician adviser on Sinema. “If anything, she could do the spoiler.”
Gallego’s decision sets up a challenging dynamic for Democratic leaders in what they see as a must-win race to retain a majority in the Senate next year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee have declined to say whether they will support Sinema if she runs.
Sinema’s allies argue that her work to secure deals with Republicans on proposals like infrastructure and a modest gun safety law helped Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections. Some have questioned whether Gallego’s more progressive record it fits well with Arizona, a former Republican stronghold that has become highly competitive. In 2020, President Joe Biden won the state. That year, and again in 2022, Senator Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, won the Senate election.
Sinema’s situation is unique. Over the next two years, Schumer said, she will get her Senate committee assignments from the Democratic Party. But unlike liberal-leaning independent senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, she does not attend caucus meetings and has worked to distance herself from the party.
the Galician campaign aforementioned a poll conducted last month by the Democratic-affiliated firm Public Policy Polling that assessed a three-way race between Gallego, Sinema and hypothetical Republican nominee Kari Lake. In that poll, Lake got 41%, Gallego 40% and Sinema 13%.
“While Sinema would not have a serious path to victory as an independent candidate, it could have a spoiler effect as she gets 14% of Biden voters but only 9% of Trump voters,” said PPP pollster Tom Jensen. in a memo released by Gallego’s team. .
