Ruben Gallego announces run for Arizona Senate seat held by Kyrsten Sinema

Rep. Ruben Gallego announced he will run for Senate in Arizona on Monday, setting up a potential three-way race in the battleground state in 2024 that poses a threat to

independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s hold on the seat. Gallego, a Marine veteran who has served in the House since 2015, announced his candidacy in a video in English and

Spanish that stressed his military service and experience growing up as a first-generation American. “The rich and the powerful, they don’t need more advocates,” Gallego

said in the video, which shows him addressing veterans at Guadalupe American Legion Post 124. “It’s the people that are still trying to decide between groceries and utilities that

need a fighter for them.” Gallego also took direct aim at Sinema in a statement, saying she “abandoned Arizona” and has “repeatedly broken her promises, and fought for

the interests of big pharma and Wall Street at our expense.” The announcement comes just a month after Sinema surprised Democrats in Washington by leaving the party and

registering as an independent, calling the change a “reflection of who I’ve always been.” Sinema, a first-term moderate who has been at the middle of several bipartisan Senate

deals in the past year, has not yet announced whether she will seek reelection.