Democrat Ruben Gallego Announces Campaign For Kyrsten Sinema’s Senate Seat

Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego announced Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2024, taking on the incumbent Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

Gallego’s campaign adds to a likely three-way race in the general election after Sinema switched her party affiliation in December.

“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,” Gallego tweeted along with a video launching the campaign.

The American dream was all I had as a child growing up poor. It was what kept me going, whether I was a child sleeping on the ground, a student cleaning toilets, or a Marine who lost brothers in Iraq.

Too many Arizonans are seeing their dreams slip away today. I’m running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you! pic.twitter.com/ofUvUYRcTP

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) January 23, 2023

“Today, too many Arizonans see their dream slipping away,” Gallego has been added. “I’m running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you!”

The congressman’s jump into the Senate election will likely serve as part of a large field of candidates competing for the seat in the primary election. Among the potential Republican candidates are Kari Lake (who lost his bid for governor in 2022) and Blake Masters (who lost his 2022 Senate campaign against incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly).

Other GOP candidates are also available rumored For a possible Arizona Senate run in 2024. U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Juan Ciscomani are among them. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is also included. 2022 gubernatorial hopeful Karrin Taylor Robson is also included. Kelli Ward, Arizona GOP Chairwoman, is also included.

Early polls comparing Lake, Gallego and Sinema in a race for the general election show Lake at 36%, Gallego 32% and Sinema just 14%. One in six voters was undecided. according to Blueprint Polling’s January 11 survey.

The poll also noted that Sinema polls low among the state’s Hispanic voters.

“Sinema gets very little support from Hispanic voters, garnering 3% of their vote (Gallego leads Lake 41%-39% with this group), while Sinema gets the support of 17% of white Arizonans. Notably, Gallego does better with women by about 4% than with men, and Sinema enjoys a similar positive differential with men,” Blueprint Polling.

Sinema was often at odds with those in her own Democratic Party for not always backing President Joe Biden’s agenda. Most recently, the senator attended the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this month, where She spoke out against the Biden administration’s border policies.

“The key is to create a system where we get to choose as a nation who we will invite into the country and who we will not. Right now, because our immigration security system is completely broken, we are not choosing who gets to come and who doesn’t. The cartels are choosing,” she said. “And that is not sustainable for our country.”

After announcing her resignation from the Democratic Party in December, the senator was also noticed.

“In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought,” Sinema wrote. “Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress. Payback against the opposition party has replaced thoughtful legislating.”

Sinema isn’t the only one who has left the party. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaiian congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate, announced her resignation in October. State Senator Glenn Jeffries, West Virginia. left The Democratic Party will join the Republicans in December.