Ruben Gallego

Rubén Marinelarena Gallego ( ; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician and Marine Corps veteran serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, Gallego served from 2015 to 2025 as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Arizona's 7th congressional district from 2015 to 2023 and was then redistricted to Arizona's 3rd congressional district, serving as its representative from 2023 to 2025. Gallego was also a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, where he was assistant minority leader from 2012 until he resigned to run for Congress. Gallego was first elected to Congress in 2014. His district included most of southern, western, and downtown Phoenix and part of Glendale.

Gallego was critical of Senator Kyrsten Sinema for her opposition to abolishing the filibuster and certain Democratic legislation. Democratic Party members and liberal organizations encouraged him to run against Sinema, and in January 2023, he announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in Arizona. Sinema later announced she would not seek reelection, and Gallego won the Democratic nomination unopposed. He defeated Republican nominee Kari Lake in the general election.

Gallego is the first Latino to be elected to represent Arizona in the United States Senate. 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.

Early life and education

Gallego was born in Chicago, and is a second-generation American, with a Colombian mother and a Mexican father. Along with his three sisters, he was raised by a single mother. The family moved to the Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park, and he graduated from Evergreen Park Community High School. Gallego attended Harvard College, where he became a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in government.

Early career

Gallego served in the Marines from 2002 to 2006. 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. 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.

In 2007, Gallego led District 7 Phoenix City Council candidate Michael Nowakowski's successful campaign before serving as Nowakowski's chief of staff. 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.

In 2011, ''The Arizona Republic'' named Gallego a distinguished freshman lawmaker. His first successful bill granted in-state tuition status to veterans residing in Arizona. Gallego supported the repeal of Arizona SB 1070. In 2012, Gallego was elected assistant minority leader.

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. The attempt 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.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

On February 27, 2014, Gallego announced his candidacy for Congress in Arizona's 7th congressional district. 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. Mayday PAC, a super PAC seeking to reduce the role of money in politics, endorsed Gallego in 2014.

Given the district's heavily Democratic lean, winning the primary is tantamount to winning the general election. 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. 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.

2016

Gallego won the Democratic nomination unopposed and was reelected in 2016 with 75.3% of the vote.

2018

Gallego was reelected in 2018 with 85.6% of the vote.

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. He won the Democratic nomination unopposed and was reelected with 76.7% of the vote.

2022

In 2022, Gallego ran in the newly redrawn Arizona District 3 and was reelected with 77% of the vote. Gallego, a major critic of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, was encouraged by several progressive organizations to run against her in the 2024 election. He announced his candidacy on January 23, 2023.

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress:
* Committee on Armed Services
** Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations (Ranking Member)
** Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
* Committee on Natural Resources
** Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs
** Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
** Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries

Caucus memberships

* Blue Collar Caucus
* Congressional Arts Caucus
* Congressional Hispanic Caucus
* Congressional Equality Caucus
* Congressional Progressive Caucus (until late 2023)
* Rare Disease Caucus
* House Baltic Caucus
* Medicare for All Caucus
* Congressional Coalition on Adoption

U.S. Senate

Elections

2024

On January 22, 2023, Gallego announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024. The seat was then held by Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who was first elected as a Democrat in 2018, and who angered some members of the party due to her opposition to filibuster reform and some Democratic legislation. After Gallego entered the race, and with Sinema not polling well, she chose not to run for reelection. Gallego had raised more money than Sinema in the first two quarters of 2023.

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".

Gallego, who had previously embraced his progressive background as "a fierce liberal combatant", sought to strike a moderate tone 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" but by 2024 was "delicately turning to the political center". ''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." While Gallego seeks to move to the middle, Republicans in Arizona are highlighting 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. 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.

On November 9, 2024, Decision Desk HQ projected that Gallego had beaten Lake in the Senate election in Arizona. On November 12, the ''Associated Press'' also projected that he had defeated Lake. Gallego significantly outperformed Kamala Harris, winning by 2.4% while Harris lost the 2024 United States presidential election in Arizona by 5.5%.

Tenure

In 2025, Gallego was one of 12 Senate Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for the Laken Riley Act.

Committee assignments

Source:

* Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
** Subcommittee on Digital Assets (Ranking Member)
** Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
** Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
* Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
** Subcommittee on Energy (Ranking Member)
** Subcommittee on National Parks
** Subcommittee on Water and Power
* Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
**Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
** Subcommittee on Border Management, Federal Workforce, and Regulatory Affairs
* Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Caucus memberships

* Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Political positions

Gallego supports Medicare for All, and was a member of the Medicare for All Caucus in the House of Representatives.

In November 2020, Gallego co-sponsored a bill with Republican Markwayne Mullin that would have required the federal government to reimburse healthcare provided for Native veterans regardless of whether the healthcare was provided by, or referred by, the Indian Health Service or tribes.

In May 2021, Gallego sponsored a bill that would have provided more government funding for Native American veterans at tribal colleges and universities.

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. Commentators noted that Gallego had previously criticized Sinema for allegedly being too close to business lobbyists.

Gallego opposed the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' that upheld state abortion bans. He has called for enshrining abortion rights in the Constitution of Arizona.

In February 2022, Gallego called for expelling Russian university students from the U.S., prompting criticism of these remarks as bigoted and xenophobic.

In May 2022, after the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, Gallego criticized Senator Ted Cruz for suggesting that calls for gun control were an attempt to politicize the tragedy, tweeting, "Fuck you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless."

In February 2023, Gallego voted against overturning the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which would allow noncitizens to vote in DC's local elections.

In the 117th United States Congress, Gallego voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.

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.

Gallego voted to provide Israel with support after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Gallego served as the national chair of Eric Swalwell's 2020 presidential campaign. He endorsed Kamala Harris after Swalwell dropped out, and Joe Biden after Harris dropped out.

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. In 2010, Gallego married Kate Widland Gallego, who was later elected mayor of Phoenix. They divorced in 2017 and have one child together.

Gallego married Sydney Barron in 2021. Barron is a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors. Gallego and Barron have two children together. In 2021, Gallego, with Jim DeFelice, wrote the book ''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.

He is a Catholic.

Electoral history

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

See also

* List of Harvard University politicians
* List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
* List of new members of the 119th United States Congress

References

External links

Senator Ruben Gallego
official U.S. Senate website
Gallego for Arizona
campaign website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallego, Ruben
1979 births
Living people
21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature
21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives
21st-century United States Marines
21st-century United States senators
American politicians of Colombian descent
American politicians of Mexican descent
Democratic Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona
Democratic Party United States senators from Arizona
Harvard College alumni
Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress
Hispanic and Latino American military personnel
Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Arizona
Military personnel from Arizona
Military personnel from Illinois
People associated with the 2020 United States presidential election
People from Evergreen Park, Illinois
Politicians from Chicago
Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona
Sigma Chi
Spouses of Arizona politicians
Spouses of United States mayors
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War
United States Marine Corps reservists