Ruben Gallego wins Arizona Senate race over Kari Lake, becomes state's first Latino senator
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego will be Arizona’s first Latino senator next year, NBC News projects, after defeating Republican Kari Lake in a hard-fought Senate race.
PHOENIX — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego will be Arizona’s first Latino senator next year, NBC News projects, after he defeated Republican Kari Lake amid a protracted vote count in one of the key swing states.
Gallego will replace Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who retired after one term. It’s the fourth consecutive Senate election Democrats have won in Arizona, which has veered sharply to the middle in the Donald Trump era after years of reliable Republican control. Trump won the state in 2016 and won it again this year by what appears to be his biggest margin in any of the core swing states.
But Joe Biden narrowly carried Arizona in 2020, part of a recent Democratic renaissance in the state.
Ruben Gallego speaks at a rally in Tucson, Ariz., in October.Gage Skidmore / Zuma via Alamy file After the race was called Monday night, Gallego characterized his victory as a dream fulfilled, having grown up impoverished. His mother, Gallego said, dreamed of her kids attending college, a goal which he said he also shared.
“This is the greatest country in the world, and the only way I could be here is because of this great country,” he said.
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