The Arizona landscape is becoming dotted with black and yellow signs featuring offensive statements made by Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03). Gallego, who has a history of making crude remarks to constituents and political opponents, is running for U.S. Senate against Republican Kari Lake.
Lake posted a photo on X Sunday of a sign by the side of the road that said, “Gallego forced COVID-19 shots,” quoting him saying, “Suck it up, deal with it.”
Spotted in Maricopa County… pic.twitter.com/xQrXZVVtzE
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) September 23, 2024
Gallego posted the remark on X in response to a Marine who objected to being required to get the jab. He also said to the soldier in the now-deleted post, “Shut the f*** up.”
Gallego, a strong proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine, introduced a bill in October 2021 to permit insurance companies to hike insurance premiums up to 50 percent for policyholders who “elected not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.” He also pushed to fine businesses that opposed mask mandates.
In 2022, he said, “Our kids are going to be [vaccinated].” He praised Democrats for handling COVID-19 and said they needed to “take a victory lap.” In October 2021, he urged Latinos to get the vaccine and called for more vaccination events.
Jeremiah Cota, an RNC delegate, posted a photo on X last week of a sign quoting Gallego that said, “F**k your prayers.” Cota said in his post that those were Gallego’s “words to people who were grieving.”
People need to know how darkly dense Ruben Gallego really is. Those were his own words to people who were grieving.
Those who live in his district already know this about him, and now these signs are telling the rest of the state of the real Ruben. pic.twitter.com/XapSdGkimj
— Jeremiah Cota ✝️🇺🇸 #VoteForTrump (@jeremiahcota) September 19, 2024
Gallego was responding to Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA-48) calling for “thoughts and prayers” after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Gallego also said “f*** you” to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on X twice and called him a baby killer. Law enforcement was criticized after the tragedy for allowing the shooter to remain at the school for an hour and 14 minutes before confronting him.
In 2022, Gallego said during a speech, “We need to kick the s**t out of Republicans!” Last year, he called Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) a “s**thead” for preventing military promotions in opposition to paid time off for female military members obtaining abortions.
Gallego refers to Lake using profanity. Two years ago, he posted on X regarding someone she had endorsed, “Imagine losing your s**t defending a bigot… just ditch the f***er. Why keep endorsing a bigot unless you are trying to keep the bigot vote.” He said Lake is a “bigot” and “homophobe.”
In 2021, Gallego told Representative Marjorie Taylor Green (R-AL-14) to “shut your seditious, Qanon loving mouth” in response to her criticism of Democrats.
However, that same year, Gallego lectured one of Taylor Greene’s staffers for allegedly being “disrespectful” to a member of Congress. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14) complained on X about a spokesperson for Taylor Greene’s saying to him, “Biden says you can take off your mask.” In response, Swalwell told the staffer, Nick Dyer, “You don’t tell me what to f****ing do!”
Gallego posted Swallwell’s response, adding, “House Staff should never talk to any member in any disrespectful manner. This staffer is lucky he told that to Swalwell, he is way nicer than me.”
Gallego, who was kicked out of Harvard for a year due to underage drinking and other infractions, has candidly admitted that he views elected office as a place to “shank” others. “Politics is dark and hard,” he said during an interview. “It’s not a bunch of people trying to do their best. It’s who can shank each other in a smarter way.”
The New York Times acknowledged earlier this year that Gallego engages in “profane social media posts.”
According to The Times and Siena Poll released on Monday, Gallego is ahead of Lake by six points. This poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
The Cook Political Report ranks the Arizona Senate race as a “LEAN D” race.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ruben Gallego Sign” by Kari Lake.
