Ruben Gallego did better than most Democrats. He says his party needs to stoke working class roots
Incoming Democratic Senator-elect Ruben Gallego of Arizona says building authentic connections with working-class voters can help Democrats find their way back to power in Washington
PHOENIX (AP) — Building authentic connections with working-class voters can help Democrats find their way back to power in Washington, incoming Democratic Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego of Arizona said Friday.
Taking stock of election results that showed him doing significantly better than other Arizona Democrats, Gallego said he put a lot of work into telling his compelling life story and connecting with voters. As a result, Gallego said, even as voters grew skeptical of the Democrats, they believed him when he said he would look out for regular people.
“People got to know who I was and what my values were, and so that they got to know me as Ruben the Marine veteran, Ruben the dad, Ruben the working-class kid who has lived the American dream and wants you to live the American dream,” Gallego told The Associated Press. “And I think when things started going bad we were able to resist the tide because people knew me and they had a perspective of me, they knew I was fighting for them.”
Gallego defeated Republican Kari Lake by 2.4 percentage points, even as fellow Democrat Kamala Harris lost to President-elect Donald Trump by 5.5 points in Arizona. That’s a nearly 8-point swing for the Democrats from the top of the ticket to the Senate race.
