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Ruben Gallego
American politician (born 1979) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Rubén Marinelarena Gallego (/ˈruːbən ɡaɪˈɛɡoʊ/ ROO-bən ghy-EH-goh; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2015 to 2025 as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona and from 2011 to 2014 as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives.
Gallego was first elected to Congress in 2014. He was critical of Senator Kyrsten Sinema for her opposition to filibuster reform and some Democratic legislation. Democrats and liberal organizations encouraged him to run against Sinema, and in January 2023, Gallego announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in Arizona. Sinema did not seek reelection. Gallego defeated the Republican nominee, Kari Lake, in the general election.[1]
Gallego is the first Latino to be elected to represent Arizona in the United States Senate.[2] After taking office on January 3, 2025, he became one of the first two Colombian-American U.S. senators, along with Republican Bernie Moreno of Ohio.
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Early life and education
Gallego was born in Chicago,[3] and is a second-generation American, with a Colombian mother and a Mexican father.[4] His mother, Elisa Gallego, was from Antioquia Department.[5] Along with his three sisters, he was raised by a single mother.[6] The family moved to the Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park, and he graduated from Evergreen Park Community High School.[7] Gallego attended Harvard College, where he became a member of Sigma Chi fraternity[8] and graduated in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in government.[9]
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Early career
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Gallego served in the Marines from 2002 to 2006.[10] After completing training in the School of Infantry (SOI), he was deployed to Iraq with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. Gallego served as a lance corporal.[11] The 3/25 lost 46 marines and one Navy corpsman between January 2005 and January 2006. Gallego's best friend died during combat operations in Iraq.[6]
In 2007, Gallego led District 7 Phoenix City Council candidate Michael Nowakowski's successful campaign before serving as Nowakowski's chief of staff.[12] In 2009, he stepped down as chief of staff to focus on his campaign for the Arizona State House in District 16, which he won in 2010.[13][14]
In 2011, The Arizona Republic named Gallego a distinguished freshman lawmaker.[15] His first successful bill granted in-state tuition status to veterans residing in Arizona.[6] Gallego supported the repeal of Arizona SB 1070.[16] In 2012, Gallego was elected assistant minority leader.[17]
Gallego founded the group Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement to recall Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, citing Arpaio's immigration policies and his use of taxpayer money to investigate Barack Obama's citizenship.[18] The recall failed; Arpaio remained in office until losing reelection in 2016. Gallego worked for Strategies 360 as Director of Latino and New Media operations. He also worked for RIESTER, one of Arizona's largest public relations firms.[19]
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U.S. House of Representatives
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Elections
2014
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On February 27, 2014, Gallego announced his candidacy for Congress in Arizona's 7th congressional district.[20] Although not required to give up his seat under Arizona's resign-to-run laws (since he was in the final year of his state House term), Gallego resigned from the Arizona House in March 2014.[21]
Gallego won a five-way Democratic primary with 48.9% of the vote, defeating Mary Rose Wilcox, who was retiring congressman Ed Pastor's choice to succeed him and was backed by a number of progressive groups.[22] Gallego went on to win the general election with 74.9% of the vote. He is the second Colombian American elected to the U.S. House, after Scott Perry.[23]
2016
Gallego won the Democratic nomination unopposed and was reelected in 2016 with 75.3% of the vote.[24]
2018
Gallego was reelected in 2018 with 85.6% of the vote.[25]
2020
Considered a rising progressive star in the party, Gallego was encouraged by several progressive groups to run for Senate by challenging Mark Kelly in the Democratic primary. Although he expressed interest, he ultimately chose to seek reelection to his House seat.[26] He won the Democratic nomination unopposed and was reelected with 76.7% of the vote.[27]
Gallego served as the national chair of Eric Swalwell's 2020 presidential campaign.[28] He endorsed Kamala Harris after Swalwell dropped out, and Joe Biden after Harris dropped out.[26]
2021
In July 2021, it was reported that a corporate lobbying group called the U.S.–Qatar Business Council paid for a $22,000 trip to Qatar for Gallego and his wife, who is a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.[29]
In the 117th United States Congress, Gallego voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.[30]
2022
In 2022, Gallego ran in the newly redrawn Arizona District 3 and was reelected with 77% of the vote.[31] Gallego, a major critic of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, was encouraged by several progressive organizations to run against her in the 2024 election.[32] He announced his candidacy on January 23, 2023.[33]
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:[34]
Caucus memberships
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U.S. Senate
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Elections
2024
On January 22, 2023, Gallego announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024.[40] The seat was then held by Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who was first elected as a Democrat in 2018, and who angered members of the party due to her opposition to filibuster reform and some major Democratic legislation. After Gallego entered the race, and with Sinema not polling well, she chose not to run for reelection.[41] Gallego had raised more money than Sinema in the first two quarters of 2023.[42]
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In 2022, Gallego bought a home near Capitol Hill using a special mortgage loan program for military veterans. He claimed the District of Columbia home as his primary residence although his campaign maintains that he resides in his Phoenix home. Gallego receives a homeowner rebate in Arizona that lowers the tax burdens for residents who primarily live in the state. Politico noted that Gallego "may have to explain why he declared he was primarily a resident of the nation's capital".[43][44]
While he had previously embraced his progressive background as "a fierce liberal combatant", he moved to the political center in his 2024 campaign in order to woo swing voters. He once called Donald Trump's border wall plans "stupid" and accused Trump of "scapegoating immigrants". His campaign emphasized his Marine Corps service and combat experience in Iraq, positioning himself as a moderate voice on national security issues to appeal to independent voters. He distanced himself from progressive positions he had held earlier in his House career, focusing instead on economic issues and border security.[45] The New York Times wrote, "Gallego has built a reputation as a blunt-spoken liberal who is politically in tune with young progressives and lacerates his opponents with profane social media posts." Republicans in Arizona highlighted his co-sponsorship of the Medicare for All Act, his support for ending the Senate filibuster, and his suggestion to "take a scalpel" to military spending.[46] In 2018, Gallego rallied alongside Bernie Sanders, and in 2022 he called himself "a true progressive voice in Congress". By 2024, he no longer embraced the label "progressive". He let his membership in the Congressional Progressive Caucus lapse, which he claimed was a financial decision.[47]
On November 9, 2024, Decision Desk HQ projected that Gallego had beaten Lake in the Senate election in Arizona.[48] On November 12, the Associated Press also projected that he had defeated Lake.[2] Gallego significantly outperformed Kamala Harris, winning by 2.4% while Harris lost the 2024 United States presidential election in Arizona by 5.5%.[49]
Tenure
In 2025, Gallego was one of 12 Senate Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for the Laken Riley Act.[50]
During the 2025 United States federal government shutdown, while most senators chose to forego their pay or donate it to charities, Gallego continued to take his pay, calling it a "gimmick" to do otherwise.[51]
Committee assignments
Source:[52]
Caucus memberships
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Political positions
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Gallego is a founding member of the centrist Majority Democrats group, along with Senators Elissa Slotkin and Michael Bennet.[54]
Abortion
Gallego opposed the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that upheld state abortion bans.[55] He called for enshrining abortion rights in the Constitution of Arizona,[56] which was implemented in 2024 through 2024 Arizona Proposition 139.
Foreign policy
In February 2022, Gallego called for expelling Russian university students from the U.S., prompting criticism of these remarks as bigoted and xenophobic.[57]
Gun policy
Gallego supported stronger gun control as of 2023. In May 2022, after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, he criticized Senator Ted Cruz for suggesting that calls for gun control were an attempt to politicize the tragedy.[58]
Immigration
Gallego co-sponsored and supported the Laken Riley Act, saying he was breaking with his party because it was "largely out of touch" with the "average Latino".[59] In February and March 2025, Gallego expressed support for deporting "dangerous" migrants to El Salvador prisons and Guantanamo Bay and called Trump's deportations to the country a Democratic "political trap".[60][61]
During the government shutdown of October 2025, Vice President JD Vance called for revisiting Reagan-era emergency care standards, saying that many Americans had experienced situations where "illegal aliens" unable to speak English received care before citizens in emergency rooms. In response, Gallego told Semafor, "We are open to passing laws that deny benefits, subsidies, or any assistance to individuals in the country illegally", but he raised concerns about the practical implications, saying that if emergency rooms were forced to turn away patients who couldn't provide identification, the people most likely to be denied care would be those who appear Latino or Asian.[62][63]
Native American social services
Gallego has sponsored or co-sponsored several bills funding social services for Native Americans.[64][65] In September 2023, the House passed Gallego's bill, the Native American Child Protection Act, which aims to set up a National Indian Child Resource and Family Services Center to assist and train tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations, and to forge state-tribe agreements to prevent, investigate, and prosecute family violence.[66][67]
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Personal life
On August 7, 2008, Gallego changed his name from Ruben Marinelarena to Ruben Marinelarena Gallego to honor his mother, Elisa Gallego, who raised him and his three siblings on her own after his father abandoned the family in his childhood.[68] In 2010, Gallego married Kate Widland Gallego, who was later elected mayor of Phoenix. They divorced in 2017 and have one child together.[69]
Gallego married Sydney Barron in 2021.[70][71] Barron is a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.[4] Gallego and Barron have two children together.[72][73]
In 2021, Gallego and Jim DeFelice wrote They Called Us "Lucky": The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit, a memoir of Gallego's service in the war as a member of the U.S. Marines Third Battalion, Twenty-Fifth Marine Regiment, Lima Company.[74]
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Electoral history
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
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See also
References
External links
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