PHOENIX — Democrat Ruben Gallego has made history by becoming Arizona’s first Latino U.S. senator, triumphing over Republican Kari Lake and effectively halting the Republican Party from expanding its Senate majority.
Gallego’s victory is part of a series of Democratic wins in a state that had been predominantly Republican up until Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Following Trump’s tenure, Arizona voters have consistently rejected candidates endorsed by him, including a recent election where he lost to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
With Gallego’s election, the Republican Party now holds 53 seats in the 100-member Senate.
A five-term member of the House and an Iraq War veteran, Gallego’s compelling personal narrative of perseverance featured heavily in his campaign and public appearances. He is set to replace Kyrsten Sinema, who originally captured the seat in 2018, establishing a formula that the Democrats have since utilized to their advantage.
Sinema’s departure from the Democratic Party came about two years ago after she faced backlash from the left wing of her party. Although she contemplated running again as an independent, she ultimately withdrew from the race when it became apparent that a viable path to victory was lacking.
Interestingly, Gallego outperformed Harris, indicating that a sizable portion of voters chose to support a Republican presidential candidate while opting for a Democratic Senate candidate. This pattern reflects previous races, including Sinema’s victory and the successful campaigns of Democratic Senators Mark Kelly in 2020 and 2022. The trend of ticket-splitting also proved crucial in Senate races in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada, which Democrats managed to win even as Trump carried those states.
Conversely, Republicans flipped seats previously held by Democrats in states like West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Montana. In those cases, Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, and Jon Tester were unable to withstand the shifting political climate in their respective states, despite running ahead of Harris.
On election night, Gallego initially maintained a comfortable lead, but that margin began to dwindle as more ballots were tabulated. Arizona is known for its lengthy vote counting process, largely due to the prevalence of mail-in ballots and those submitted on Election Day, which require extensive verification and processing.
Born to immigrants from Mexico and Colombia, Gallego grew up in Chicago in a single-parent household. He later gained admission to Harvard University and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, where he was deployed to Iraq in 2005, part of a unit that experienced significant losses, including the death of his close friend.
Throughout his campaign, Gallego capitalized on a significant financial advantage, continually criticizing Lake for her backing of a state law from the Civil War era that restricts abortions in almost all circumstances. Lake attempted to navigate her position on this issue toward the center, which frustrated many of her allies on the right, particularly by opposing a federal abortion ban.
Gallego painted Lake as someone who would do anything for power, framing her as dishonest. He deliberately downplayed his progressive record in Congress, relying on his personal experiences and military background to portray himself as a pragmatic moderate.
Lake, on the other hand, is a notable former television news anchor who gained fame within populist conservative circles during her 2022 run for Arizona governor.
Despite having lost that race, she has never publicly acknowledged her defeat, even labeling herself the “lawful governor” in her recent memoir and maintaining a legal battle to overturn the election results while launching her Senate bid.
Her commitment to the unfounded claims that elections have been stolen from Trump, as well as from her, resonated with the former president, who even considered her for his vice presidential candidacy. However, this stance complicated her relationship with moderate Republicans, especially after she expressed disdain for the late Senator John McCain and former Governor Doug Ducey during her previous campaign.
In her attempt to appeal to broader audiences, Lake struggled to consistently communicate her stance on sensitive issues like election fraud and abortion. Instead, she placed heavy emphasis on border security—an important issue for Republicans in a border state that has seen record levels of immigration during the Biden administration. She vowed to implement strict measures against illegal immigration and branded Gallego as an advocate of “open borders.” Additionally, she scrutinized his personal history, notably referencing his divorce from his ex-wife, Kate Gallego, who endorsed him and has campaigned alongside him.