Who is Ruben Gallego? What to know about the Democratic candidate in Arizona's Senate race
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Rep. Ruben Gallego, a retired U.S. Marine and longtime U.S. representative in the House, announced his candidacy for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat in early 2023.
Gallego, D-Ariz., could face off against Republican Senate front-runner Kari Lake, a former news anchor turned political candidate, in the Nov. 5, 2024, general election. Incumbent Sen. Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz., is not seeking reelection.
Who is Ruben Gallego?
Gallego, 44, grew up in Chicago to immigrant parents from Colombia and Mexico. He and his three sisters were raised by his single mother, Elisa Gallego.
He graduated from Evergreen Park Community High School in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and then traveled to Boston to study at Harvard University. Gallego would graduate from Harvard with a degree in international relations.
After graduating, Gallego joined the Marines and was deployed to Iraq with the Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. Gallego's company lost 23 men, which is one of the highest casualties of any Marine unit in Iraq.
Gallego has written about his time in the Marines in a 2021 book about the Lima Company called "They Called Us 'Lucky': The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit."
Gallego's book generated some controversy after publication because it inaccurately characterized a then-Washington Post reporter's story about the company's casualties. The book criticized a 2005 Post story by Ellen Knickmeyer, now at the Associated Press, as wrongly saying the entire company had been killed, causing emotional pain for loved ones back home. But Knickmeyer's story was correct, only reporting casualties in one squad, not the whole platoon.
The publisher, HarperCollins imprint William Morrow Books, acknowledged and corrected the error.
Gallego also shared the story of the "Lucky" Lima Company in his first campaign TV ad for the 2024 U.S. Senate race in Arizona.
How did Ruben Gallego get into politics?
After returning from combat, Gallego got involved with Arizona's politics to support combat veterans, among others. In 2009, he served as the chief of staff for Phoenix City Councilmember Michael Nowakowski and was elected as the vice chair of the Arizona Democratic party.
In 2010, Gallego was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in a district that covers much of Phoenix. His time as a state legislator ended in March 2014 after his announcement that he would be running for Arizona's 7th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
After winning that election, he went on to serve the district in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2023 before redistricting put him in the redrawn Arizona 3rd Congressional District, which he serves today.
In early 2023, Gallego announced that he would be running for the 2024 U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, which was held by Sinema, a Democrat who changed to independent in 2022. Sinema ultimately decided not to run again.
Who is Ruben Gallego's family?
Gallego, along with his three sisters, were raised by his single mother in Chicago.
While at Harvard, Gallego met future Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who was also a student. The couple moved to Phoenix in 2004 after Kate Gallego got a job on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign in Arizona, and Ruben Gallego joined her after finishing his deployment in Iraq. They married in 2010.
In 2016, the couple divorced shortly before the birth of their son, Michael. The couple remains friendly as Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego endorsed Ruben Gallego for the U.S. Senate in December 2023.
In 2021, Ruben Gallego married Sydney Barron, now Sydney Gallego. The couple has a daughter together, Isla, who was born in July 2023.
Sydney Gallego is the director of government advocacy for the National Association of Realtors and previously worked for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
Where does Ruben Gallego stand on immigration and other top issues?
Recently, Gallego has been supportive of the Sinema-led border reform legislative package that was blocked by Republicans in the U.S. Senate at the request of former President Donald Trump.
He's shifted his focus on immigration toward securing the border and ports of entry and increasing resources for border communities. During his tenure in Congress, he's been outspoken about providing a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and undocumented immigrants.
Gallego previously took more liberal positions on immigration and border security. In 2017, he wrote an op-ed for The Arizona Republic titled "Why we should not build Trump's border wall (ever)." In his article, Gallego wrote that the wall was never about border security, it would be a giant waste of money and former President Donald Trump was using the wall to play up Americans fears and anxiety surrounding immigration.
Receiving endorsements from Reproductive Freedom for All, formally known as NARAL Pro-Choice, and Planned Parenthood, Gallego believes in protecting access to abortion. If elected to the U.S. Senate, he had said that he would work to wave the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade, which established the federal right to abortion before it was overturned.
What are Ruben Gallego's controversies?
In addition to coming under fire for the inaccuracies in his 2021 book, Gallego has faced criticism for his profanity on social media and lack of outreach to the Black community in Phoenix.
In May 2022, after the death of 19 students and two teachers in a shooting at Uvalde Elementary School, Gallego hurled profanity at Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz over his comments.
"F--- you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless," Gallego wrote on his personal Twitter account in reference to Cruz's trip to the city amid statewide blackouts and a winter storm in Texas.
Gallego made the comments following Cruz's claims on CNN about how Democratic legislators would use the deaths to call for gun reform.
Besides that instance, Gallego frequently has used a range of profanity on social media. Those comments have ranged from criticizing colleagues to disagreeing with policy actions and decisions.
In 2022, he responded to a tweet by Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who said the father of a junior Marine officer told him his son got the COVID-19 vaccine "against his wishes."
"Sounds like the officer should shut the f--- up. Now you know how it is to be enlisted we had to lots of s--- that we didn’t like. It’s called being a Marine suck it up and deal with it," Gallego wrote.
In 2021, Gallego was criticized by a former aide for his lack of support and outreach to the Black community in his district. Ne'Lexia Galloway ripped Gallego on Twitter, now known as X, for not speaking out against the Phoenix Police Department's actions related to Phoenix's Black Lives Matter protests, which led to an ongoing investigation on Phoenix police by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"I, in good conscience, can no longer remain silent about Congressman Gallego's silence and absence from the Black community," Galloway said in her statement.
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Reach reporter Morgan Fischer at morgan.fischer@gannett.com or on X, formally known as Twitter, @morgfisch.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who is Ruben Gallego? Arizona Democrat running for Senate
