Ruben Gallego campaign teases Senate challenge to Kyrsten Sinema, raises money off idea

Rep. Ruben Gallego is campaign fundraising off the prospect of his running against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona's 2024 Democratic primary.

"Many people are asking Ruben if he will run against Senator Kyrsten Sinema," a promoted June 18 Facebook post says. "We know many of you hope he does and he appreciates that fact. That’s one of the reasons he is asking you to contribute to his campaign today. Because if he is going to run against her, he’ll need to win his re-election campaign this November and build a strong grassroots movement."

The Facebook ad says any contributions will go toward his House reelection effort this year.

"We’ll report a lot of donations," the post concludes. "And anything he doesn’t spend in 2022, he can use in 2024 … whatever he decides."

Jacques Petit, Gallego's communications director, said Gallego, D-Ariz., hasn't made any decisions on challenging Sinema, D-Ariz., in 2024.

"As Rep. Gallego has said repeatedly, his entire focus is on 2022," Petit said. "That means holding the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and supporting candidates up and down the ballot in Arizona. He will make a decision in 2023."

Sinema has established herself as a centrist Democrat who values bipartisanship and working across the aisle with Republicans. Despite voting in support of the Biden administration 94% of the time, authoring and serving as a key negotiator in support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law and all of Biden's judicial nominees, Sinema has angered many on the left who consider her an impediment to passing key parts of President Joe Biden's agenda. Many view Gallego, a progressive Democrat, as a credible potential primary challenger.

Sinema and Gallego are longtime rivals, going back to 2006, when they clashed while working on a campaign to stop a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Arizona. Sinema, who chaired the campaign, requested that Gallego be removed from his post as a consultant to the team.

In the years since, as each has ascended to political prominence — first to positions in the Arizona Legislature and then to the U.S. House and Senate — Gallego has continued to lob barbs at Sinema.

On Twitter, he's called her out for refusing to end the Senate's legislative filibuster, along with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V. The filibuster has so far made it impossible for President Joe Biden to push through much of his legislative agenda.

In January, Gallego tweeted that Sinema and Manchin "care more about arcane Senate rules than protecting your vote."

In June, he wrote that Sinema was empowering Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., by "not neutering the filibuster." And just weeks ago, Gallego challenged Sinema to an Arizona town hall where she could explain her continued adherence to the filibuster at the expense of federal regulations protecting the right to an abortion.

Sinema has cosponsored and voted in favor of several voting rights bills. She also has frequently defended her position on the filibuster in statements in Congress and to The Arizona Republic.

In a June op-ed for the Washington Post, Sinema reasoned that were the procedure lifted, Republicans could easily reverse any codification of Roe v. Wade on retaking the Senate.

"To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to expand health-care access … would it be good for our country if we did, only to later see that legislation replaced by legislation … defunding women’s reproductive health services," Sinema wrote.

Gregory Svirnovskiy is a Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic. You can follow him on Twitter @gsvirnovskiy or reach him by email at gregory.svirnovskiy@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ruben Gallego campaign teases Senate challenge to Kyrsten Sinema