Ruben Gallego | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| United States Senator fromArizona | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2025 Serving with Mark Kelly | |
| Preceded by | Kyrsten Sinema |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Ed Pastor |
| Succeeded by | Yassamin Ansari |
| Constituency | 7th district(2015–2023) 3rd district(2023–2025) |
| Member of theArizona House of Representatives | |
| In office January 10, 2011 – March 14, 2014 Serving with Catherine Miranda | |
| Preceded by | Cloves Campbell Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Norma Muñoz |
| Constituency | 16th district(2011–2013) 27th district(2013–2014) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ruben Marinelarena (1979-11-20)November 20, 1979 (age 46) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (AB) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Senate website Campaign website |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 2002-2006 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Unit | 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines |
| Battles/wars | Iraq War |
Rubén Marinelarena Gallego (/ˈruːbənɡaɪˈɛɡoʊ/ROO-bən ghy-EH-goh; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician serving since 2025 as thejuniorUnited States senator fromArizona. A member of theDemocratic Party, he served from 2015 to 2025 as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Arizona and from 2011 to 2014 as a member of theArizona House of Representatives.
Gallego was first elected to Congress in2014. He was critical of SenatorKyrsten Sinema for her opposition tofilibuster reform and some Democratic legislation. Democrats and liberal organizations encouraged him to run against Sinema, and in January 2023, Gallego announced his candidacy for the2024 United States Senate election in Arizona. Sinema did not seek reelection. Gallego defeated theRepublican nominee,Kari Lake, in the general election.[1]
Gallego is the firstLatino 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 twoColombian-American U.S. senators, along with RepublicanBernie Moreno ofOhio.
Gallego was born inChicago,[3] and is a second-generation American, with a Colombian mother and a Mexican father.[4] His mother, Elisa Gallego, was fromAntioquia Department.[5] Along with his three sisters, he was raised by a single mother.[6] The family moved to the Chicago suburb ofEvergreen Park, and he graduated fromEvergreen Park Community High School.[7] Gallego attendedHarvard College, where he became a member ofSigma Chi fraternity[8] and graduated in 2004 with abachelor's degree in government.[9]
Gallego served in theMarines from 2002 to 2006.[10] After completing training in theSchool of Infantry (SOI), he wasdeployed to Iraq with Lima Company,3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. Gallego served as alance 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 7Phoenix 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 ofArizona SB 1070.[16] In 2012, Gallego was elected assistant minority leader.[17]
Gallego founded the group Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement to recallMaricopa County sheriffJoe Arpaio, citing Arpaio's immigration policies and his use of taxpayer money to investigateBarack Obama'scitizenship.[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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On February 27, 2014, Gallego announced his candidacy for Congress inArizona's 7th congressional district.[20] Although not required to give up his seat under Arizona'sresign-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 congressmanEd 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 secondColombian American elected to the U.S. House, afterScott Perry.[23]
Gallego won the Democratic nomination unopposed and was reelected in 2016 with 75.3% of the vote.[24]
Gallego was reelected in 2018 with 85.6% of the vote.[25]
Considered a risingprogressive star in the party, Gallego was encouraged by several progressive groups torun for Senate by challengingMark 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 ofEric Swalwell's 2020 presidential campaign.[28] He endorsedKamala Harris after Swalwell dropped out, andJoe Biden after Harris dropped out.[26]
In July 2021, it was reported that a corporate lobbying group called the U.S.–Qatar Business Council paid for a $22,000 trip toQatar for Gallego and his wife, who is alobbyist for theNational Association of Realtors.[29]
In the117th United States Congress, Gallego voted in line withJoe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.[30]
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 SenatorKyrsten Sinema, was encouraged by several progressive organizations to run against her in the2024 election.[32] He announced his candidacy on January 23, 2023.[33]
For the118th Congress:[34]
On January 22, 2023, Gallego announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in2024.[40] The seat was then held byKyrsten Sinema, an independent who was first elected as a Democrat in2018, and who angered members of the party due to her opposition tofilibuster 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 nearCapitol 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]
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 calledDonald 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 theMedicare for All Act, his support for ending theSenate filibuster, and his suggestion to "take a scalpel" to military spending.[45] In 2018, Gallego rallied alongsideBernie 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 theCongressional Progressive Caucus lapse, which he claimed was a financial decision.[46]
On November 9, 2024,Decision Desk HQ projected that Gallego had beaten Lake in the Senate election in Arizona.[47] On November 12, theAssociated Press also projected that he had defeated Lake.[2] Gallego significantly outperformedKamala Harris, winning by 2.4% while Harris lost the2024 United States presidential election in Arizona by 5.5%.[48]
In 2025, Gallego was one of 12 Senate Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for theLaken Riley Act.[49]
During the2025 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.[50]
Source:[51]
Gallego is a founding member of thecentristMajority Democrats group, along with SenatorsElissa Slotkin andMichael Bennet.[53]
Gallego opposed the Supreme Court's 2022 rulingDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that upheld stateabortion bans.[54] He called for enshriningabortion rights in theConstitution of Arizona,[55] which was implemented in 2024 through2024 Arizona Proposition 139.
In February 2022, Gallego called for expelling Russian university students from the U.S., prompting criticism of these remarks asbigoted andxenophobic.[56]
Gallego supported strongergun control as of 2023. In May 2022, after theschool shooting inUvalde, Texas, he criticized SenatorTed Cruz for suggesting that calls for gun control were an attempt to politicize the tragedy.[57]
Gallego co-sponsored and supported theLaken Riley Act, saying he was breaking with his party because it was "largely out of touch" with the "average Latino".[58] In February and March 2025, Gallego expressed support for deporting "dangerous" migrants toEl Salvador prisons andGuantanamo Bay and calledTrump's deportations to the country a Democratic "political trap".[59][60]
During thegovernment shutdown of October 2025, Vice PresidentJD Vance called for revisitingReagan-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 toldSemafor, "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.[61][62]
Gallego has sponsored or co-sponsored several bills funding social services for Native Americans.[63][64] 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.[65][66]
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.[67] In 2010, Gallego marriedKate Widland Gallego, who was later electedmayor of Phoenix. They divorced in 2017 and have one child together.[68]
Gallego married Sydney Barron in 2021.[69][70] Barron is a lobbyist for theNational Association of Realtors.[4] Gallego and Barron have two children together.[71][72]
In 2021, Gallego and Jim DeFelice wroteThey 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 theU.S. Marines Third Battalion, Twenty-Fifth Marine Regiment, Lima Company.[73]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego | 4,149 | 26.12 | |
| Democratic | Catherine Miranda | 3,476 | 21.88 | |
| Democratic | Cloves Campbell Jr. (incumbent) | 3,182 | 20.03 | |
| Democratic | Jim Munoz Jr. | 2,281 | 14.36 | |
| Democratic | Sandra Gonzales | 1,955 | 12.31 | |
| Democratic | Cristy Lopez | 842 | 5.30 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Catherine Miranda | 19,197 | 39.46 | |
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego | 18,365 | 37.75 | |
| Republican | Michael Gular | 8,551 | 17.58 | |
| Green | Angel Torres | 2,532 | 5.21 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Catherine Miranda (incumbent) | 28,683 | 40.98 | |
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego (incumbent) | 27,522 | 39.32 | |
| Republican | Daniel Coleman | 10,088 | 14.41 | |
| Green | Angel Torres | 3,702 | 5.29 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego | 14,936 | 48.90 | |
| Democratic | Mary Rose Wilcox | 11,077 | 36.27 | |
| Democratic | Randy Camacho | 2,330 | 7.63 | |
| Democratic | Jarrett Maupin | 2,199 | 7.20 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego | 54,235 | 74.85 | |
| Libertarian | Joe Cobb | 10,715 | 14.79 | |
| Americans Elect | Rebecca DeWitt | 3,858 | 5.32 | |
| Independent | José Peñalosa | 3,496 | 4.83 | |
| Write-in | 150 | 0.21 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego (incumbent) | 119,465 | 75.2 | |
| Republican | Eve Nunez | 39,286 | 24.7 | |
| Write-in | 60 | < 0.01 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego (incumbent) | 113,044 | 85.6 | |
| Green | Gary Swing | 18,706 | 14.1 | |
| Write-in | 301 | < 0.01 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego (incumbent) | 165,452 | 75.7% | |
| Republican | Josh Barnett | 50,226 | 23.3% | |
| Write-in | 54 | 0.0% | ||
| Total votes | 215,732 | 100% | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego (incumbent) | 108,599 | 77.0% | |
| Republican | Jeff Zink | 32,475 | 23.0% | |
| Total votes | 141,074 | 100% | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ruben Gallego | 1,676,335 | 50.1% | ||
| Republican | Kari Lake | 1,595,761 | 47.7% | ||
| Green | Eduardo Heredia Quintana | 75,868 | 2.3% | ||
| Write-in | 850 | 0.0% | |||
| Total votes | 3,348,814 | 100% | |||
| Democraticgain fromIndependent | |||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)He quietly ended his membership in the Congressional Progressive Caucus at the end of last year, according to a person familiar with his decision who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
| Arizona House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theArizona House of Representatives from the16th district 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theArizona House of Representatives from the27th district 2013–2014 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona's 7th congressional district 2015–2023 | Succeeded by Raúl Grijalva |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona's 3rd congressional district 2023–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromArizona (Class 1) 2024 | Most recent |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by Kyrsten Sinema | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Arizona 2025–present Served alongside:Mark Kelly | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | Order of precedence of the United States as United States Senator | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States senators by seniority 89th | Succeeded by |
Statewide political officials ofArizona | ||
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