Rep. Ruben Gallego’s (D-AZ) campaign released the first television ad of his Senate run, starting a new phase of the race in the wake of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) recent announcement that she will not be running for a second term.
As recent polling analysis found, Gallego has low name recognition in the state. The Democratic congressman released the ad in an effort to introduce himself to Arizona voters. In the one-minute spot, named “Lucky Lima,” Gallego reflects on his military service as a U.S. Marine in a unit that saw more casualties than any other during the Iraq War.
“Lucky Lima, that’s what they called us. Lima company 325, 3rd Battalion of the 25th Marine regiment assigned to Al Ambar, Iraq, but, when our luck finally ran out, we lost more Marines than any other battalion in the war: forty-eight men, including my best friend,” Gallego narrated in the ad.
Gallego grew up with a single mother and worked as a cook and janitor before finally going to Harvard University “with no money or connections,” Gallego says in the ad. The likely Democratic Senate nominee also makes a veiled reference to his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from the war when he says he “survived the memories of war so I could be a good dad.”
Gallego’s campaign confirms it is set to spend seven figures over the next few weeks and millions over the next few months. The race to replace Sinema could decide control of the Senate, where Democrats have a narrow majority of 51-49. After Democrats conceded they will likely lose their seat in West Virginia, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announcing his retirement last year, the seat in Arizona has become even more critical.
Gallego is likely to face Kari Lake, who is the front-running Republican candidate, in a race now considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Lake’s campaign is seeking to define Gallego as a “far-left socialist.”
“Radical Reuben Gallego is frantic spending this early and running to Chuck Schumer for help because he knows his poll numbers are tanking against Kari Lake,” a campaign spokesperson for Lake said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “Voters in Arizona won’t be fooled.”
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New voter registration numbers released Tuesday show the electorate is 35% Republican, 34% independent, and 29% Democratic voters. Since Sinema’s victory in 2018, Arizona has transformed from a solid red state to one of the country’s most competitive battlegrounds.
In 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden’s victory in the state over Trump helped him secure the White House. In December 2020, Arizona had two Democratic senators for the first time since 1952 after Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) was sworn in. In 2022, Lake and three other Republicans running for major statewide offices lost. It was the first time Democrats held all major statewide positions since 1950.