By Kellen Browning
Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Phoenix-area Democrat and military veteran, has won the Senate race in Arizona, The Associated Press said Monday night — a bright spot for Democrats after Republicans regained control of the chamber.
Gallego defeated his Republican opponent, Kari Lake, a fiery ally of President-elect Donald Trump’s, after leading her by sizable margins throughout the summer and the fall. The final result was much closer than some predictions, another sign of Republican strength throughout the country.
Gallego is a five-term congressman who grew up in a working-class Chicago family, working jobs as a teenager to support his family and sometimes sleeping on the floor of their apartment. He attended Harvard University and fought in the Iraq War as a Marine. He will become Arizona’s first Latino senator, replacing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent and former Democrat.
At a news conference in Phoenix late Monday night, Gallego, with tears in his eyes, referred to his humble roots.
“For the kids sleeping on the floor, dreaming about a better, better America and a better, better future, this victory is for you,” he said.
After going decades without electing a Democrat to the Senate, Arizona’s voters have now done so in four successive elections, underscoring the state’s shift from reliable conservative stronghold to competitive battleground. Voters backed Sinema in 2018, picked Sen. Mark Kelly in a special election in 2020 and then elected him again in 2022.
But Gallego’s victory is perhaps the most notable from an ideological standpoint. For years, he was an outspoken progressive, and there were early questions about whether he would come across as too liberal to be elected statewide.
Gallego announced in January 2023 that he would challenge Sinema for her seat, after she angered Democrats by voting with Republicans to stymie key pieces of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
During his campaign, he caught two big breaks. One came when Sinema announced this year that she would not run for reelection, allowing him to consolidate the support of Democratic voters.
The other was the entrance of Lake, a former television anchor and vocal ally of Trump’s who rose to prominence through a divisive governor’s race in 2022, during which she insulted her fellow Republicans and championed Trump’s baseless election conspiracy theories.
Lake alienated many on the right with her tactics, especially after she filed a series of fruitless lawsuits contesting her 2022 loss. Republicans nevertheless mostly coalesced around her in the GOP primary for Senate this year, giving Gallego as vulnerable an opponent as he could hope for.
Lake’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Election Day, she told reporters that she would “accept the results of the election.”
Gallego, who was once known for lobbing profanities at Republicans on social media, ran a disciplined campaign. He successfully rebranded himself as an even-tempered moderate, highlighting his veteran status and pitching himself as a pragmatic legislator who would focus on lowering costs for families and championing tribal water rights. Strategists also expected Gallego, because of his background and military experience, to perform better among Latino men — a group that Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to struggle with.
He enjoyed an enormous cash advantage over Lake, which enabled him to introduce himself to voters on his terms. He also crisscrossed the state, visiting all 22 of Arizona’s federally recognized Native American tribes.
Lake was an underdog throughout the fall, with polls showing her consistently trailing Gallego, even as Trump led Harris in Arizona.
She failed to land a decisive blow at the candidates’ sole televised debate, in early October. And in the waning days of the campaign, she was unable to generate a big moment that could swing the race.
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