Rep. Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, won the race for the open Arizona Senate seat, defeating Republican Kari Lake, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press on Monday evening.
Gallego has served in the House of Representatives since 2015, representing Arizona’s 7th and 3rd congressional districts.
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Kari Lake and Rep. Ruben Gallego faced off for the open Arizona Senate seat. (Reuters)
Lake unsuccessfully ran for governor of Arizona in 2022 and was defeated by Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz. Before becoming governor, she was a news anchor for a local Arizona television station and worked in media for 27 years.
After the 2022 loss, she challenged the results, citing fraud concerns in the state. Lake still claims there were significant irregularities in 2020 and 2022, echoing claims by Trump and many of his supporters. These concerns have led the Republican National Committee to devote significant resources to election integrity efforts.
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Primary elections were held Tuesday evening to fill the seat vacated at the end of this year by Rep. Ruben Gallego. (Getty Images)
Lake faced Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Republican Senate primary, while Gallego had an advantage, running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
The September Fox News Power Rankings called the Arizona Senate race a “Leans Democrat.” Likewise, the Cook Political Report, a major political liability, also rated the race as “Lean Democrat.”
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Senator Kyrsten Sinema speaks before a committee on October 19, 2021 in Washington, DC (Photo by Rod Lamkey-Pool/Getty Images)
The Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who was elected as a Democrat. She still caucuses with Senate Democrats, but officially registered as an independent years ago after clashing with her Senate Democratic colleagues over the legislative filibuster. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, IW.Va., are credited with opposing Democrats to maintain the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.
Both senators decided not to run for office.
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Reps. Ruben Gallego and Kari Lake are battling it out in Arizona’s Senate race. (Getty Images)
Before she announced she would not seek another term, Sinema’s potential candidacy as a third-party candidate threatened to upend the Senate race, with strategists unsure how her supporters would shake out.
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In polls leading up to the Senate elections, Gallego often led Lake by single digits. He even managed to beat his opponent in polls that saw Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Experts have speculated that his ties to Latino voters may have fueled split voting in the state, although the practice is becoming relatively rare.
While Lake often highlighted her relationship with Trump, who scored higher than her in the state, Gallego did not often do the same with Harris during her campaign.
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