Ruben Gallego

Rubén Marinelarena Gallego ( ; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, Gallego served from 2015 to 2025 as the U.S. representative for Arizona's 3rd congressional district. He was also a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, where he was assistant minority leader from 2012 until he resigned to run for Congress. Gallego was first elected to Congress in 2014. His district included most of southern, western, and downtown Phoenix and part of Glendale.

Gallego served as the national chair of Eric Swalwell's 2020 presidential campaign. A progressive politician, Gallego was critical of Senator Kyrsten Sinema for her opposition to abolishing the filibuster and votes against certain Democratic legislation. After launching his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2024, he stopped using the term "progressive" to define himself. Democratic Party members and liberal organizations encouraged him to run against Sinema, and in January 2023, he announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in Arizona. As Sinema did not seek reelection, Gallego won the Democratic nomination unopposed. In the general election he defeated the Republican nominee, Kari Lake. He is the first Latino to be elected to represent Arizona in the United States Senate. After taking office on January 3, 2025, he became one of the first two Colombian-American U.S. senators, along with Bernie Moreno of Ohio. Provided by Wikipedia