by Mary Lou Masters
Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego’s 2024 Senate campaign announced raising $1 million on Thursday since independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced her retirement.
Gallego and former Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake have been vying for Sinema’s seat while the senator weighed whether to seek a second term in the upper chamber. In the 24 hours since Sinema declined to run on Tuesday, Gallego attracted nearly 24,000 donations, making it the campaign’s “most prolific fundraising day,” according to a press release obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“On Tuesday, this race crystallized, and grassroots donors chipped in big time with one mission in mind: to elect Ruben Gallego and keep Kari Lake out of the U.S. Senate,” Hannah Goss, spokesperson for the Gallego campaign, said in a statement. “Everyday folks are giving what they can because they know Arizona can’t afford to send an anti-abortion election denier to the U.S. Senate. Because of them, we’re building a campaign ready to win — and that’s exactly what we’ll do come November.”
A message for Arizonans from Senator Kyrsten Sinema pic.twitter.com/1XWFSWgGdh
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) March 5, 2024
Gallego’s Senate campaign has brought in $13.2 million since its January 2023 launch, and entered the election year with $6.5 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission data. Lake, who only jumped in the race in October, has reported raising $2.1 million with just over $1 million in hard dollars.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, threw its support behind Lake’s candidacy on Feb. 13.
Polling largely suggested Sinema would lose in a three-way matchup with Gallego and Lake, where she pulled support from both Democrats and Republicans.
A Rasmussen Reports/The Bull Moose Project survey released Feb. 28 found Lake leading Gallego by four points in a three-way race, as well as by three points in a head-to-head matchup. Another poll released days earlier, conducted by Emerson College/The Hill, indicated Gallego would beat Lake by six points in a matchup with Sinema, and increased his margin by one point in a two-way race.
Sinema’s seat is currently classified by The Cook Political Report as in the “Toss Up” category for 2024, along with other contentious races in Montana and Ohio.
Lake’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. The NRSC pointed the DCNF toward Lake’s campaign for comment.
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Mary Lou Masters is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Rep. Ruben Gallego” by Rep. Ruben Gallego.
