Ruben Gallego’s Campaign Says It Raked In over $1 Million Following Kyrsten Sinema’s Retirement Announcement

Ruben Gallego

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.

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Gallego Submits Signatures for Arizona Democratic Primary Ballot

Ruben Gallego

Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego submitted his petition to get on the Democratic primary ballot on Monday morning.

Gallego, who’s a congressman representing Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, touted that his campaign did not use paid canvassers, and only “grassroots” efforts to get 14,186 signatures, which is more than double the 6,556 minimum.

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Ruben Gallego’s Arizona Senate Campaign Drops Thousands on Swanky Resort, Private Security

Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego’s 2024 Senate bid spent thousands of campaign cash on luxury travel, private security and fancy restaurants during the year’s third fundraising quarter, according to financial records.

Gallego brought in $3.1 million and spent $1.9 million between July 1 and Sept. 30, entering the year’s final fundraising period with $5 million in the bank, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). His Senate campaign dropped over $3,000 on a luxury resort in Puerto Rico, $2,700 on private security, nearly $2,000 on fine dining in Washington, D.C., and thousands more on related expenses, the disbursements show.

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Arizona Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Kari Lake Calls on Rivals Gallego and Sinema to Condemn Campaign Donor, Council on American-Islamic Relations

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake is calling on her rivals in the critical race to condemn the anti-Israel Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and their Israel-hating keynote speaker, U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (R-MI-12).

Tlaib, a Palestinian American member of the House’s radical “Squad” and ardent supporter of the leftist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, is scheduled to speak at the Arizona chapter of CAIR’s annual banquet, slated for Nov. 18 in Mesa. 

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Senate Republican Conference Chair Endorses Kari Lake, Predicts She ‘Will Shine Brightly for Arizona’

Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake received a key endorsement on Monday from Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the chair of the Senate Republican Conference, after officially announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate last week. In a statement to The Arizona Sun Times, Lake said she looks forward to working with Barrasso and other Senate Republicans with whom she shares priorities.

Barrasso said “Kari Lake will shine brightly for Arizona,” according to a statement obtained by German-owned Politico. Barrasso called lake “a generational communicator who is giving voice to Arizona citizens,” and said she “is in this race to make Arizona and America stronger.”

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Kari Lake Officially Announces U.S. Senate Race to Packed Crowd of over a Thousand

Kari Lake officially announced her entry into the U.S. Senate race in Arizona Tuesday evening at Jetset Magazine in Scottsdale. Incumbent Kyrsten Sinema, now an independent, is expected to run again, and Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) appears to have the Democratic primary locked up. Lake will face Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Republican primary. Over a thousand showed up for the event, completely filling the area outside the business. Donald Trump appeared by video to endorse Lake.

Abe Hamadeh, who is still challenging his 280-vote loss to Democrat Kris Mayes in the attorney general’s race, gave a brief speech first. He slammed the politicians concerned more about their “decadent, self-serving cocktail parties,” and in a reference to his previous military experience, said he was ready to be “down in the trenches” with Lake and the campaign.

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Report: Kari Lake to Wage Senate Bid Against Sinema, Gallego

Republican Kari Lake is reportedly going to announce her run for United States Senate in Arizona on Oct. 10, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Shortly after the report, a media advisory was sent out from Lake’s team saying the former gubernatorial nominee is “expected to make an announcement about her future alongside thousands of Arizonans” with a rally in the Phoenix area.

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Commentary: Will a Three-Way Race in Arizona Deliver the U.S. Senate to Republicans?

Of all the low-hanging senatorial fruit in 2024 — see red states with blue senators in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio, to name three — if not the ripest for conservative pickup, then at least the juiciest might be the three-way contest that is liable to heat up in the Arizona desert.

There, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat-turned-independent incumbent, if she decides to defend her seat, will face an extreme progressive challenger on the left and, possibly, one of the Trumpiest of Trumpists on the right, Kari Lake, who may find herself in a primary battle with a slightly lesser Trumpist in Blake Masters, who lost the other Senate seat in 2022 to Mark Kelly.

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Blake Masters to Enter U.S. Senate Race, Will Face Kari Lake and Sheriff Mark Lamb in GOP Primary

According to The Wall Street Journal, Blake Masters is about to announce a run for the U.S. Senate, potentially as soon as next week. Masters lost the Arizona senate race last year to incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Kelly and will join a Republican primary field that includes Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Kari Lake is expected to announce her run in October. Incumbent Kyrsten Sinema, who switched her party registration from Democrat to Independent and is now seen as vulnerable, has not announced whether she is running for re-election. State Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is widely expected to obtain the Democratic nomination, challenging her from the Left.

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Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego Raises $3.1 Million in Race for Sinema’s Senate Seat

Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) claims to have raised $3.1 million from mostly small-dollar donors funding his campaign for U.S. Senate, where he hopes to overcome Republican opposition and ultimately unseat Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-I).

Gallego’s campaign sent campaign finance data to 12 News on Thursday, revealing a $3.1 million fundraising haul in the second quarter of 2023. Though less than the $3.7 million Gallego raised in the first quarter, immediately after announcing his campaign, the latest reporting means his campaign has raised nearly $7 million this year.

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Kari Lake Team Still Confident in Potential Senate Run After Sheriff Mark Lamb Joins Race

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb (R) officially announced Tuesday that he is entering the campaign trail for U.S. Senate, aiming to take the seat of Arizona’s Independent Senator, Kyrsten Sinema. To get that seat, Lamb must overcome political rivals on both sides of the aisle, including a potential bid from Republican Kari Lake.

 “The idea of Kari Lake in the US Senate is the worst nightmare of the crooked political machine — the same machine she has vowed to destroy. If the People of Arizona call on Kari to run for Senate, despite the wishes of the ruling class, she will. And if Kari runs, she will win,” said Alex Nicoll, spokesperson for Lake, in an email to The Arizona Sun Times.

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Kari Lake Confirms She’s Considering a Senate Run if Election Challenge Fails

Rumors have been swirling that Kari Lake is seriously considering running for the U.S. Senate, challenging Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and during an interview with Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk she finally confirmed the suspicion as accurate. However, she emphasized that she will fully litigate the results of the gubernatorial election first.

During the interview earlier this month, Lake responded when asked if she was going to run for the seat, “Yes, I am entertaining it. I mean my number one priority is our court case, and I have full confidence in our court case and I hope we will get a judge to do the right thing.”

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New Poll Finds Senator Kyrsten Sinema Trailing for Potential 2024 Senate Race

Following the official party switch from Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I), a recent Public Policy Polling (PPP) found that she appears to be sinking against other potential candidates for the 2024 senate race.

The poll found that between three hypothetical candidates, Kari Lake for Republicans, Rep. Ruben Gallego for Democrats, and Kyrsten Sinema as an independent, Sinema would find herself last.

“Fresh new Arizona numbers! In a three way race Kyrsten Sinema would get just 13% to 41% for Kari Lake and 40% for Ruben Gallego,” according to PPP.

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Mark Finchem Files Lawsuit Contesting Election Results, Contends at Least 60,624 Ballots Were Not Counted in Maricopa County

Three of the Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona who lost their races filed lawsuits contesting the election results. Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem all filed lawsuits on Friday.

Finchem’s complaint, which was filed jointly in Maricopa County Superior Court with Jeff Zink, a Republican candidate who lost his race challenging Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), named Gallego, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who was declared the gubernatorial winner over Lake, and incoming-Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who defeated Finchem, as defendants.

Zink was later dropped from the complaint in an amended complaint filed on Monday.

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All Seven of Arizona’s Democratic Members of Congress Push for Earmarks, Republicans Don’t

Now that a 10-year ban on Congressional earmarks has ended, all seven Democrats in Arizona’s congressional delegation are requesting them. None of the four Republican members are. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-07) wants to beautify light poles and several of the members want to expand public transit. Many of them are getting their requests approved as part of the $2.1 trillion infrastructure bill, which is expected to pass into law soon.

Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ-06) told The Arizona Sun Times Friday that the earmarks aren’t necessary, since they are for the types of projects local and state governments generally cover.

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