Gallego prioritizes housing, immigration issues at all-Spanish town hall held in Phoenix
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“I am the son of immigrants — my mother is from Colombia and my father is from Mexico. I am a veteran of the Iraq war. I have been a congressman for Arizona for 10 years, and with your support, I could become the first Latino senator in the history of Arizona.”
That's how Rep. Ruben Gallego addressed the small group he gathered for a Spanish-language town hall Saturday afternoon at the Maryvale Community Center, located in the predominantly Latino community of west Phoenix.
Accompanied by Phoenix councilmember Betty Guardado for District 5, Gallego answered questions sent to him in writing as he campaigns for Arizona's seat in the U.S. Senate, which will be decided in the November 2024 presidential elections.
“There are many Latinos here (in Phoenix) who prefer Spanish … They deserve respect, they deserve to hear from their politicians, and that's why I wanted to have a town hall in Spanish,” Gallego told The Arizona Republic.
Gallego announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January, a race that could become an unprecedented three-party ticket as he seeks to fill the seat currently occupied by Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. So far, Sinema has not announced whether she will seek re-election, but the battle is already underway to defeat Republican and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who announced her Senate bid on Tuesday.
Gallego spoke on issues regarding immigration reform, the high cost of housing and support for war veterans, among other issues. These were key items he addressed.
High cost of housing
The House representative for District 3 of Arizona said that having grown up in a working-class home, his focus was to address the needs of everyday residents, especially when it comes to housing.
“We have politicians (in Washington D.C.) who do not understand or do not want to understand what it means to bring money home, what it means to work hard to provide security and well-being for your family, and that is something that I do understand. That is why I am running to be your senator,” he said.
He said that one of his priorities, should he reach the Senate, is to increase the state's minimum wage as the cost of living continues to increase in Arizona.
According to recent data, the average rent in the Valley reached $1,691 at the end of last year, compared to $1,250 at the end of 2020. And in September of this year alone, more than 7,800 tenant eviction requests were recorded in Maricopa County — just 100 shy of the highest number for the Valley since August 2005.
“It is almost impossible for a working-class family to buy a house now. What we need to do as a government is build more homes, assist people looking to buy their first home and invest in affordable housing for low-income families,” Gallego said.
In support of migrant communities
Gallego mentioned that as a House representative, he worked on several important immigration proposals, including guaranteeing a path to citizenship for Dreamers — undocumented immigrants who qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — and legalizing farm workers in Arizona cities like Yuma and San Joaquin. None of these were successful after reaching the Senate.
“The proposals passed the House of Representatives and reached the Senate, and there the senators did nothing, including Kyrsten Sinema, who for many years said that she wanted immigration reform,” Gallego said.
In December 2022, Sinema led an unsuccessful fight in Congress to seek to legalize a path to citizenship for Dreamers, this in exchange for additional investments in border security, such as increasing salaries, hiring hundreds of agents and deploying more technology to protect the border with Mexico.
This type of bipartisan negotiation is commonly what has slowed the progression of successful comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.
“We are not going to have more cowards when it comes to making decisions. We need a solution for our community, for our families. It has been almost 20 years that we have been talking about immigration reform and it has not arrived. It is time to follow through," he added.
In order to get this done, he said, he was willing to work with not only Republicans but also other Democrats, who are not convinced of the importance of approving immigration reform.
A race against Lake
Regarding his recently announced opponent, Kari Lake — with whom he recently exchanged heated posts via X, formerly Twitter, leading to a confrontation between the two at International Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix — he said that while she has much to say, she lacks a plan to solve any real problems.
"I believe that the candidate who is talking to voters and tells them how they intend to provide security for their family in the future, who gives them options on how to buy a house, how to send their children to school — that is the candidate who will win,” said Gallego.
During her campaign announcement, Lake promised to seal the nation's border with Mexico, curb fentanyl abuse and pursue a strategy of "America first," similar to that of former President Donald Trump.
“She (Lake) can talk, she can scare our voters, but she has no solutions. I am going to bring solutions to our community and I am going to talk to voters about these solutions, and that is why we are going to win,” Gallego said.
A 'community that must be heard'
Gallego said Saturday's town hall would not be the only one, saying that he would organize more meetings in predominantly Latino communities in Arizona, such as south Phoenix and Tucson. More than 30 percent of Arizona's population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census figures.
Among those present was Josselin Guzman Miramontes, 25, who said that these approaches by congressmen with the Latino community are very important since it is Latinos who are changing Arizona politics.
In the November 2022 election, at least 400,000 Latino voters cast ballots, a record number that likely played a key role in several close races, according to projections from Radar Strategies, a Democratic consulting firm. That election year marked the third consecutive year in which a record number of Latinos voted.
“(Politicians) are realizing that there are many voices in the community that must be heard, communities like Maryvale that are not normally represented at the state level and that we want to express our concerns on issues such as education, health safety and many other issues that matter to us," Guzman Miramontes said.
She added that like her, more and more young people in Arizona and throughout the country are getting involved in politics, participating in campaigns and, most importantly, going out to vote.
Itzimba Figueroa, who lives in Paradise Valley but attended the town hall because she has family and friends in Maryvale, applauded Gallego's action of addressing the community in Spanish, as it is something she rarely sees.
“We know that many times politicians approach the Latino community only when they are campaigning, because they want their votes,” said Figueroa, 25. “But with Ruben it is a different case because he has always been involved with the community for several years and he holds meetings like this often, with many communities.”
Frank Moreno, 76, who was born in Tolleson but now lives near Maryvale, said that his main concern was the lack of well-paying jobs in his community and funds for public schools, so these types of meetings with his representatives help directly convey to them that message.
He said he supported the idea of Gallego aspiring to a seat in the U.S. Senate, because there is a need for someone like him to fulfill the promises of his people.
“Sinema does not represent us as she said she was going to represent us, we supported her and she let us down. It seems very good to me that Gallego could take her place,” said Moreno.
Communities editor Joanna Jacobo Rivera contributed to this article.
Reach La Voz reporter Javier Arce at Javier.arce@lavozarizona.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @JavierArce33
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ruben Gallego centers Latino community at Spanish-language town hall
