2024 Senate race in Arizona: The Gaggle podcast's first look at the race for Sinema's seat

Amanda Luberto, Arizona Republic
·1 min read
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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Ind-Ariz., center, speaks with Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., right, and others, before President Joe Biden arrives to deliver his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Ind-Ariz., center, speaks with Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., right, and others, before President Joe Biden arrives to deliver his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023.
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While you won’t be filling in the bubbles on your ballot in November, the upcoming U.S. Senate race is lurking in the shadows.

So far, only one prominent candidate — a Democrat —has announced he's running: U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.

As Arizona continues to be one of the most watched swing states in the country, all eyes are on who will be on the Senate ballot in 2024.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., announced in December that she quit the Democratic party and is now an independent.

The Latino Victory Project, a political action committee that supports Latino candidates, in 2018 launched a campaign to draft Ruben Gallego to the Senate race.
The Latino Victory Project, a political action committee that supports Latino candidates, in 2018 launched a campaign to draft Ruben Gallego to the Senate race.

And the Republicans are looking to regain the seat. Although no candidates have formally announced, plenty of names are circulating.

Kari Lake, former gubernatorial candidate, is one. And others, such as Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, have indicated their interest.

This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Erin Covey. She’s a political reporter and analyst for Inside Elections, which provides nonpartisan analysis of presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races.

Kari Lake arrives to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Kari Lake arrives to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

She discussed several potential candidates and the chances of them putting in a bid for Senate and how former President Donald Trump's next move could affect the race.

Listen to the episode

The best way to listen is to subscribe to The Gaggle on your favorite podcast app, but you also can stream the full episode below.

Note: The Gaggle is intended to be heard. But we also offer an AI transcript of the episode script. There may be slight deviations from the podcast audio.

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Questions welcome

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Reach the producer at aluberto@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandaluberto.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gaggle Podcast: How 2024 Senate race for Sinema's seat is shaping up