EGN NEWS DESK
PHOENIX — Democrat Ruben Gallego has been elected Arizona’s first Latino U.S. senator, defeating Republican Kari Lake and stopping Republicans from additional padding their Senate majority.
Gallego’s victory continues a string of Democratic successes for the Senate in a state that was reliably Republican for these seats till Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Arizona voters had rejected Trump-endorsed candidates in each election since, however the president-elect gained Arizona this yr over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris
“Gracias, Arizona!” Gallego wrote on the social platform X.
With Gallego’s win, the GOP could have 53 seats within the 100-member Senate.
Gallego is a five-term House member and an Iraq War veteran with an up-by-the-bootstraps life story that he featured prominently in his public appearances and adverts. He will substitute Kyrsten Sinema, whose 2018 victory as a Democrat created a components that the party has efficiently replicated ever since.
Sinema left the Democratic Party two years in the past after she antagonized the party’s left wing. She thought of operating for a second time period as an impartial however bowed out when it was clear she had no clear path to victory.
“Yes, he may!” a number of Gallego supporters shouted in Spanish as he supplied his first feedback after the race was referred to as.
“I’ll battle for Arizona in Washington,” Gallego informed the cheering supporters, saying that he would battle as a lot for the individuals who didn’t vote for him as those who did.
In his transient remarks, Gallego a number of occasions talked about the only mom who raised him, crediting her together with his success. He promised to work to repair what he stated was the nation’s damaged immigration system, and would proceed to battle for veterans and for ladies’s reproductive rights.
The Associated Press left a voicemail and e-mail message looking for remark from Lake’s marketing campaign Monday evening.
With Gallego’s win, there was just one extra main race left uncalled in Arizona. The race between Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Kirsten Engel for the sixth Congressional District remained too early to name.
Gallego ran forward of Harris, suggesting a considerable variety of voters supported Trump on the high of the ticket and the Democrat for Senate, a sample seen in Sinema’s victory and each of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s wins in 2020 and 2022. Ticket-splitters additionally have been decisive within the Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada Senate races this yr, which Democrats gained at the same time as Trump gained their states.
Republicans flipped Democratic-controlled Senate seats in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana. In the latter three instances, defeated Sens. Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey and Jon Tester additionally ran forward of Harris however couldn’t overcome their states’ shifts towards the GOP.
Gallego led comfortably after the primary outcomes have been launched on election evening, however his lead narrowed as extra ballots have been counted. Arizona is infamous for a drawn-out depend as a result of most individuals vote by mail—which takes longer to confirm and course of—together with many who drop off ballots on Election Day.
The son of immigrants from Mexico and Colombia, Gallego was raised in Chicago and ultimately accepted to Harvard University. He enlisted within the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and fought in Iraq in 2005 in a unit that sustained heavy casualties, together with the dying of his finest good friend.
Gallego maintained a major fundraising benefit all through the race. He relentlessly attacked Lake’s help for a state legislation courting to the Civil War that outlawed abortions beneath almost all circumstances. Lake tacked to the center on the problem, infuriating a few of her allies on the proper by opposing a federal abortion ban.
Gallego portrayed Lake as a liar who will do and say something to achieve energy. He downplayed his progressive voting file in Congress and leaned on his private story and his navy service to construct a picture as a practical reasonable.
Lake is a widely known former tv information anchor who grew to become a star on the populist proper along with her 2022 marketing campaign for Arizona governor.
She has by no means acknowledged dropping that race and referred to as herself the “lawful governor” in her 2023 e-book. She continued her unsuccessful battle in courtroom to overturn it even after starting her Senate marketing campaign.
Her dogmatic dedication to the falsehood that consecutive elections have been stolen from Trump and from her endeared her to the previous president, who thought of her for his vice presidential operating mate. But it compounded her struggles with the reasonable Republicans she alienated throughout her 2022 marketing campaign, when she disparaged the late Sen. John McCain and then-Gov. Doug Ducey.
She tried to reasonable however struggled to maintain a constant message on thorny matters, together with election fraud and abortion.
Lake targeted as an alternative on border safety, a potent challenge for Republicans in a border state that noticed file border crossings throughout Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. She promised a tricky crackdown on unlawful immigration and labeled Gallego a supporter of “open borders.” She additionally went after his private life, pointing to his divorce from Kate Gallego shortly earlier than she gave start. His ex-wife, now the mayor of Phoenix, endorsed Gallego and has campaigned with him.
