Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., prepares for a House Armed Services Committee markup in Rayburn Constructing on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 12 months 2020 on Wednesday, June 12, 2019.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Rep. Ruben Gallego’s Senate campaign said Tuesday it raised greater than $1 million in sooner or later after the Democrat launched his bid for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s coveted seat within the 2024 election cycle.
Greater than 27,000 donations contributed to the haul, breaking an Arizona record for probably the most contributions in a campaign’s first 24 hours, the campaign said in a press release.
The Gallego campaign said it broke that record, which was previously held by incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, in only eight hours.
“I’m proud to announce that we received more donations from real people on our first day than Senator Sinema has within the last three years combined,” Gallego said within the press release.
A spokeswoman for Sinema declined to comment, but pointed to a recent radio interview during which the senator said she is “going to remain focused on the work I actually have ahead of us.”
“There’s a number of really essential work left on the table to get done for Arizona,” Sinema said in that Friday interview.
The early windfall for Gallego’s Senate bid got here as Sinema, who recently ditched the Democratic Party to develop into an independent, has yet to announce if she is going to seek reelection in 2024.
Sinema and a handful of other centrist Democrats had enjoyed enormous influence when the Senate was split 50-50 between the 2 parties, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wielding the tie-breaking vote. They repeatedly angered their fellow Senate Democrats after refusing to back, or forcing major changes on, big pieces of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda and other key votes.
That Senate math shifted after Democrats outperformed expectations within the November midterms, extending their hold to an outright Senate majority, 51-49. When Sinema left the Democratic Party last month, she called the change “a mirrored image of who I’ve all the time been.”
But she also signaled she is going to proceed to caucus with the Democrats, a stance that has helped the president’s party pass bills that helped make the 117th Congress some of the productive in years.
By defecting from the Democrats, Sinema will even avoid competing in a Democratic primary fight if she chooses to run again — a prospect that may lead to a three-way general election.
Despite his campaign’s initial fundraising spike, Gallego’s Senate run comes amid skepticism that a more progressive candidate can win statewide in Arizona, where Republicans and “other” voters each outnumber Democrats.
Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have tread rigorously when asked concerning the race.
“Senator Sinema is a wonderful Congress member and Senate member and she or he has done a number of good things here, however it’s much too early to make a choice,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday.
Their predicament was welcome news to Republicans.
“Senator Sinema has been a crucial a part of the US Senate, and a very powerful thing she did was to save lots of the institution itself by protecting the filibuster,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“I feel it’s an enormous dilemma for the Senate Democratic majority to make your mind up whether to support her or to support someone running on the Democratic ticket,” McConnell said.
Democrats face a difficult path to holding their slim Senate majority next 12 months. Early projections of the electoral map show Democrats, and the independents who caucus with them, defending more Senate seats than Republicans. That features Arizona, which the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics just labeled a “toss up.”
