Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) defeated Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race to replace outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
The Associated Press called the race for Gallego at 11:49 p.m. ET p.m. Monday. With 95% of the ballots counted, Gallego led with 50% of the vote to Lake’s 48%. Gallego will become Arizona’s first Latino senator.
Gallego’s win is one bright spot for Democrats, who lost control of the Senate with Republicans defeating incumbents in Ohio, Montana, and Pennsylvania for a 53-seat majority.
Gallego, 44, is a former United States Marine who served in the Iraq War. He also graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in international relations. He has been Arizona’s representative from the 3rd Congressional District since 2015.
Gallego posted a simple message on social media upon learning of his victory.
“Gracias, Arizona!” he posted on X late Monday night.
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) November 12, 2024
Lake, a former news anchor, was the GOP nominee for governor in 2022 and championed a brash style popularized by the former president. She lost that race but didn’t concede, citing election fraud, which has divided the Republican Party.
In a bid for unity, the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm fell in line with then-former President Donald Trump and endorsed Lake’s candidacy in February. Warning signs about her candidacy persisted, however. In August, she won her primary with about 55% of the vote despite being the presumptive favorite all year. Underfunded Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb got 39%.
Lake gained ground on Gallego in the final two weeks of voting. Six different polls published before the election by six different organizations collectively showed Gallego leading Lake by an average of 50% to 43%. The results were 1 percentage point tighter than what five previous polls showed a week ago.
Gallego, who entered the race in January 2023, openly criticized Sinema before she decided to retire, arguing her record didn’t represent the views of Arizona voters. In previous elections, Gallego campaigned as a “real progressive,” and he belonged, for eight years, to the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Gallego is no longer a member of the group, and he has embraced a more centrist identity.
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Gallego significantly outraised Lake, collecting a total that approached $54 million, according to federal election records. In contrast, Lake’s total amount raised, including funding transferred from other committees, was just over $19 million.
President-elect Donald Trump won Arizona with 52.6% of the vote to Vice President Kamala Harris’s 46.4%, completing a sweep of all seven key swing states.