PEORIA, Arizona — Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) didn’t pull punches when it came to Republican Kari Lake, warning voters during a town hall meeting of her possible entrance into a race for the seat held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
“Voters want to hear about what the future looks like. They are not going to be attracted to a candidate like Kari Lake, who doesn’t have any plans for the future except for whatever she thinks will make Trump happy, which I think is not something that sells,” the lawmaker said while speaking to voters at the Rio Vista Recreation Center on Monday night.
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Gallego, who entered the Senate race back in January, has openly criticized Sinema, who last year announced she was leaving the Democratic Party and registered as an independent. The congressman, who represents Arizona’s 3rd District, has only recently this cycle begun criticizing Lake, who narrowly lost her election to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) last year.
Insiders expect Lake to announce her intentions to run for Senate this fall. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Gallego seemed to suggest her candidacy was a foregone conclusion.
“I think it’s bad news that one of the two major candidates is an election denier, who has openly encouraged violence, political violence,” Gallego said. “It would be a very hard situation for Arizona to have her as a senator.”
In April, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb became the first Republican to step forward to challenge Sinema. Gallego said that Lamb is not on his radar so far, however.
Sinema has not announced whether she will run for reelection, though many political insiders in Arizona expect she will, opening the door for a three-way general election race in the battleground state.
Gallego, the liberal in the race, also reflected on the gripes directed at Sinema, who has angered the state’s more liberal constituents by withholding support for some Democratic proposals, such as eliminating the filibuster in the Senate.
“I don’t think the values that Kyrsten Sinema has shown she has is going to align with them either,” Gallego said on Monday.
.@RubenGallego: “This race isn’t about @SenatorSinema or @KariLake, it’s about Arizonans.” pic.twitter.com/104voD3pyl
— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) June 27, 2023
Lake brings with her a massive national profile and strong support from MAGA world in the wake of her 2022 campaign for governor. Nationally, many Republicans are skeptical about her prospects, given her fixation on unfounded claims of election fraud. In recent weeks, Lake also has been lobbing attacks at Gallego, previewing how a Senate race between the two could play out.
“Ruben Gallego believes secure borders are ‘cruel’ and ‘extreme.’ Those are his exact words. Frankly, I think Ruben Gallego is ‘cruel’ and ‘extreme’ if he’s okay watching Americans die at the hands of illegal aliens & fentanyl poisoning,” Lake tweeted last month.
Ruben Gallego believes secure borders are “cruel” and “extreme”
Those are his exact words.
Frankly, I think Ruben Gallego is “cruel” and “extreme” if he’s okay watching Americans die at the hands of illegal aliens & fentanyl poisoning. pic.twitter.com/byg1UB9zac
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) May 23, 2023
Lake has hit Gallego on border security and transgender issues. But on Monday, Gallego hit back.
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“We know what Kari Lake is going to do — she’s going to try to scare us from each other. She’s going to try to scare you about immigrants, gays,” Gallego said. “We are going to talk about the future, she’s going to talk about hate. We are going to talk about where we are going as a state, she wants to talk to you about 2020 and 2022.”
Once considered a red state, Arizona has become more competitive in recent years. Republicans have lost both Senate seats, the governor’s office, and the 2020 presidential election in the state over the past five years.
