Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego won the race for Arizona's open Senate seat, defeating Republican Kari Lake, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, the Associated Press reported Monday night. did.
Mr. Gallego has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015, representing Arizona's 7th and 3rd Congressional Districts.
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Kari Lake and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego competed for an open Senate seat in Arizona. (Reuters)
Lake ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor in 2022, losing to Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. Before running for governor, he worked in the media for 27 years, serving as a news anchor for a local television station in Arizona.
After her 2022 loss, she challenged the results, citing concerns of fraud within the state. Mr. Lake still maintains that there was significant fraud in 2020 and 2022, echoing the claims of Mr. Trump and many of his supporters. This concern led the Republican National Committee to devote significant resources to election integrity efforts.
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A primary election was held Tuesday night to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Ruben Gallego at the end of this year. (Getty Images)
Lake faced off against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Republican Senate primary, while Gallego, who ran unopposed, had the advantage in the Democratic primary.
The September Fox News Power Rankings rated the Arizona Senate race as “leaning Democratic.” Similarly, top political handicapper Cook Political Report identified the race as a “lean Democrat.”
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Senator Kyrsten Sinema speaks before the committee in Washington, DC on October 19, 2021 (Photo by Rod Lamkey Poole/Getty Images)
The Senate seat is currently held by Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. She still caucuses with Senate Democrats, but officially registered as an independent several years ago after opposing her fellow Senate Democrats on the legislative filibuster. Mr. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin (Idaho, Virginia) are said to have opposed Democrats in support of the filibuster threshold of 60 votes.
Both senators have decided not to run for re-election.
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Congressman Ruben Gallego and Congressman Kari Lake are fighting for the Arizona Senate. (Getty Images)
Before Sinema announced he would not seek re-election, the possibility of him running as a third-party candidate threatened to upend the Senate race, and strategists were unsure how his supporters would fare.
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Polls leading up to the Senate race often showed Mr. Gallego leading Mr. Lake by a single digit. Trump also managed to maintain a lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in the polls. Experts have speculated that his relationship with Latino voters may have encouraged split voting in the state, a practice that has become relatively rare.
While Lake often emphasized her relationship with Trump, who had higher approval ratings than her in the state, Gallego did little to do the same with Harris during the campaign.
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