As Consultant Ruben Gallego campaigned for Arizona’s important Senate seat final week, he did one thing that may appear uncommon to those that know him as a fierce liberal combatant: He struck a reasonable tone.
Chatting with retirees in Goodyear, a politically divided Phoenix suburb, Mr. Gallego, a Democrat, addressed the surge of migrants on the border, suggesting that the asylum system was “being abused” and calling for extra assist for Border Patrol brokers so they might “actually concentrate on these unhealthy guys.”
It was a shift from the Ruben Gallego of years previous, when he slammed former President Donald J. Trump’s border wall plans as “silly” and accused him of “scapegoating immigrants.” The brand new message — stemming partially from an intensifying disaster below a far totally different president — represented a tacit acknowledgment that profitable over Arizona voters might require a slide towards the center.
Delicately turning to the political middle is a time-honored custom for candidates of each events. However Mr. Gallego, who represents a liberal district in Phoenix and has an extended historical past of figuring out as a progressive, may face a more durable problem than most in redefining himself in a battleground state with a decades-old conservative bent — even after a significant courtroom choice on abortion this week put Democrats firmly on offense within the state.
“On this period of hyper-partisanship — and there will probably be nationwide cash flooding into Arizona on this Senate race — folks will probably be flinging stereotypes round like loopy,” mentioned Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who was elected to 2 phrases because the state’s governor within the 2000s.
Ms. Napolitano, who famous that Mr. Gallego’s standing as a Marine Corps veteran may assist him, mentioned that to win statewide as a Democrat, he wanted to display that “you’re there to problem-solve, and also you’re there to work arduous, and also you’re there to signify all Arizonans.”
Mr. Gallego does have a number of key benefits in Arizona, although.
A ruling on Tuesday from the State Supreme Court docket, which mentioned an 1864 regulation that bans almost all abortions might be reinstated, turbocharged Democrats’ makes an attempt to place abortion on the middle of the November election. That call, mixed with the chance {that a} poll measure defending abortion entry will probably be on the poll in Arizona, left Democrats hopeful of hovering liberal turnout.
Mr. Gallego can be poised to run towards a Republican who’s straining even more durable to widen her attraction: Kari Lake, the previous tv anchor and Trump ally whose divisiveness and election lies helped result in her slim defeat within the 2022 governor’s race.
And Arizona has shifted blue lately, with Joseph R. Biden Jr. flipping the state in 2020 and a number of Democrats profitable statewide elections: Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, and Gov. Katie Hobbs, who beat Ms. Lake.
These candidates, nevertheless, had spent extra time crafting cautiously reasonable, pragmatic photographs, whereas Mr. Gallego has constructed a repute as a blunt-spoken liberal who’s politically in tune with younger progressives and lacerates his opponents with profane social media posts.
Mr. Gallego’s success may hinge on his capacity to current a brand new aspect of himself to Arizonans. Whereas Ms. Lake is broadly recognized, Mr. Gallego is much less well-defined within the state, giving him an opportunity to pitch himself as a no-nonsense veteran centered on native priorities like prescription drug costs and well being care whereas highlighting her historical past as an election denier.
Mr. Gallego mentioned that he was up for the problem of interesting to voters of all political persuasions, and that he was reaching out to Republicans and visiting redder elements of Arizona.
“We’ve been going to not the simplest areas of the state with regards to being a Democrat, however we’ll proceed to do it,” he mentioned in an interview final week. “I don’t see it as a transfer to the center. We’re right here to speak to voters, and we’ve got to earn their assist.”
On the identical time, Ms. Lake and her allies are highlighting a few of Mr. Gallego’s previous votes and positions that they are saying are out of step with Arizonans, like his cosponsoring of a invoice that may have established a “Medicare for all” common well being care program; his enthusiasm for ending the filibuster within the Senate; his suggestion to “take a scalpel” to army spending; and his criticism of Mr. Trump’s border wall proposal.
“Ruben Gallego is a far-left progressive who has achieved nothing for Arizona over his 10 years in Congress,” Alex Nicoll, a spokesman for Ms. Lake, mentioned in a press release, mentioning that Mr. Gallego has voted with Mr. Biden 100% of the time.
Mr. Gallego has tried to parry these criticisms. His marketing campaign famous that he had voted for tens of billions of {dollars} in appropriations payments through the years funding nationwide safety initiatives and hiring Border Patrol brokers, and that he supported the bipartisan invoice that may have tightened restrictions on the border however was tanked by Republicans this yr.
His spokeswoman, Hannah Goss, mentioned Mr. Gallego “has all the time put Arizonans first” and attacked Ms. Lake’s file on abortion, saying she would “do or say something to realize energy for herself.”
Mr. Gallego additionally ended his membership within the Congressional Progressive Caucus final yr, a transfer that was first reported by Politico. He mentioned final week that he left the caucus due to the elevated price of dues, and didn’t immediately reply when requested whether or not he nonetheless thought-about himself a progressive.
“These phrases are type of D.C. phrases. I think about myself somebody that’s been working very arduous for Arizona,” he mentioned. As for Republicans’ criticisms of his file, he challenged them to “carry it.”
Mr. Gallego, who’s working unopposed for the Democratic nomination, has maintained a slim lead in most polls over Ms. Lake, who made baseless claims about election fraud in 2020 a key a part of her 2022 marketing campaign for governor, then filed lawsuits searching for to overturn her personal defeat after she misplaced. Ms. Lake has a giant lead over her important Republican challenger, Mark Lamb, a right-wing sheriff, forward of the July 30 major election. Whereas she has a core of ardent supporters, she is laboring to earn the backing of extra reasonable Republicans.
Mr. Gallego has a monetary edge, having out-raised Ms. Lake late final yr and tallying $7.5 million in marketing campaign contributions within the first three months of this yr; she has not but introduced her whole for a similar time interval. He entered the race nicely earlier than her and has maintained a busy marketing campaign schedule, vowing to go to all 22 federally acknowledged Native American tribes in Arizona earlier than the election.
A type of visits occurred final week, when Mr. Gallego toured the Yavapai-Apache Nation reservation close to Sedona. Courting the Native American voters who helped flip Arizona blue, he squelched by the mud and cottonwood bushes on the financial institution of the Verde River whereas discussing the significance of tribal water rights with the chairwoman of the nation’s tribal council.
Mr. Gallego, a 44-year-old of Colombian and Mexican descent, has a compelling private story. Rising up poor in Chicago, he labored quite a lot of jobs as a teen whereas his single mom supported him and his three sisters on a secretary’s wage.
That helps him perceive, he mentioned, “what persons are feeling proper now, the frustration, the damage, the sensation of betrayal.”
He attended Harvard, enlisted within the Marines and was deployed to Iraq, the place his unit suffered heavy losses. Dozens of Marines had been killed, together with his greatest pal, and Mr. Gallego talks brazenly about affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction after returning residence. He served within the Arizona Legislature earlier than being elected to Congress in 2014.
There are additionally points of his life that Republicans view as damaging. He and his first spouse, Kate Gallego, divorced in 2016, weeks earlier than she gave start to their youngster. A conservative information outlet is suing to unseal their divorce data and Ms. Lake has accused him of “abandoning his spouse & child.”
Ms. Gallego, now the mayor of Phoenix, has endorsed Mr. Gallego, who has since remarried and has mentioned his P.T.S.D. contributed to their divorce. The pair are co-parenting their youngster, and Mr. Gallego mentioned there was “nothing in any respect” that may come out of the divorce data.
Each Mr. Gallego and Ms. Lake say they’re aggressively courting Arizona’s sizable populations of unbiased voters and moderates, a few of whom felt left with out a political residence when Ms. Sinema introduced final month that she wouldn’t run for re-election. Ms. Sinema’s workplace didn’t reply to a query about whether or not she would endorse Mr. Gallego.
With Ms. Lake persevering with to hammer points the place Republicans have an edge amongst voters, just like the border disaster, Mr. Gallego may have his work lower out for him amongst independents.
Jon Lindstrom, 77, a Democrat on the Goodyear occasion, mentioned he was backing Mr. Gallego. However the congressman must work to earn others’ assist, he urged.
“I believe with regards to immigration, he’s going to have a problem,” Mr. Lindstrom mentioned.
