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Rep. Ruben Gallego takes aim at Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as he officially launches Senate run

Rep. Ruben Gallego address the crowd at the Phoenix Vet Center's Veterans Day Celebration and Open House on Nov. 10, 2022.
Rep. Ruben Gallego address the crowd at the Phoenix Vet Center's Veterans Day Celebration and Open House on Nov. 10, 2022.

Rep. Ruben Gallego officially announced his run for the U.S. Senate on Monday in a campaign video that traces the arc of his life from a child raised in poverty who made it to Harvard University to a Marine who survived the Iraq War.

Gallego, a five-term Arizona Democrat, vowed to fight for the working class rather than the wealthy in a message aimed at Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., whose seat he hopes to take.

“The rich and the powerful, they don’t need more advocates,” Gallego, 43, says in the video. “It’s the people that are still trying to decide between groceries and utilities that need a fighter for them.”

Gallego’s long-anticipated entry in the race makes him the first high-profile candidate in what could become a historic, three-way contest.

Sinema defected from the Democratic Party in December. She hasn’t announced whether she will seek a second six-year term, but has filed preliminary paperwork to do so.

Several Republicans are considering the race in the belief that a Sinema run will divide Democrats and independent voters, leaving the GOP well positioned to win with its typically larger base of support.

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Once again Arizona’s Senate race is expected to be among the nation’s most fiercely contested and will help settle control of the chamber after the 2024 elections.

Gallego’s biographical message ended with the populist rhetoric that he has been honing over the past year as he, like many Arizona Democrats, became more disillusioned with Sinema. He expounded on that in a statement accompanying his campaign video.

“The problem isn’t that Senator Sinema abandoned the Democratic Party — it’s that she’s abandoned Arizona,” he said. “She’s repeatedly broken her promises, and fought for the interests of big pharma and Wall Street at our expense.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., speaks on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 17, 2023.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., speaks on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 17, 2023.

Perhaps the most dramatic example that Gallego alludes to is her support last summer for a $700 billion bill that reflected the Democrats’ domestic legislative priorities, including efforts to mitigate climate change.

Sinema was essentially the last Democrat to sign onto the surprise deal brokered between Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

She agreed to the deal after ensuring several changes, most prominently the elimination of $14 billion in higher taxes for hedge fund managers and similar money managers.

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From the outset, Gallego’s introductory message seeks to set him apart from the person he casts Sinema as today.

“Growing up poor, the only thing I really had was the American dream,” he says in a video that mixes in Spanish phrases. In a poor environment, Gallego says, “you really need a belief and a hope in a better future.”

Importantly, he said, “I had a government that believed in kids like me.”

Gallego’s video never mentions the word “Democrat” and only flashes it on screen once. Party labels could take on outsize significance in a three-way race where both parties will want to preserve their base as Sinema’s centrist message targets the state’s political middle.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm of the national GOP that works to elect Republicans to the Senate, welcomed Gallego’s candidacy as a wedge for Democrats. It attacked Gallego while presenting Sinema as an option for her former party whom they don’t judge.

“The Democrat civil war is on in Arizona. (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has a choice: stand with open borders radical Ruben Gallego or back his incumbent, Senator Kyrsten Sinema,” said Philip Letsou, an NRSC spokesperson.

Official Democratic reaction from the Senate was muted by contrast, reflecting the party’s fragile majority and delicate relations with Sinema.

Though Gallego seems unlikely to face a high-profile challenger for the party’s nomination, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee didn’t issue a statement acknowledging his entry into a race that on paper would be a pickup for the party in a cycle where Republicans are generally expected to dominate the Senate map.

Meanwhile, Schumer and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the party’s whip, told reporters in Washington it was premature to comment on Gallego’s candidacy.

Gallego could have the Democratic nomination to himself.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., indicated he had done polling work exploring a challenge to Sinema on the day she announced she was leaving the party. He took himself out of the running Thursday when he announced he would not mount a 2024 Senate campaign.

Gallego represents part of Phoenix and the West Valley. He is among the more senior members of the House Armed Services Committee and the Natural Resources Committee. He brings a liberal voting record and a penchant for glibness that has made him a fixture on cable news criticizing Republicans, especially former President Donald Trump.

Gallego has been honing a national image for years.

His 2021 memoir, “They Called Us ‘Lucky’: The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit,” outlined the hardship of his combat service and the difficulty adjusting to life back in America.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ruben Gallego enters 2024 U.S. Senate race vs. Kyrsten Sinema