Why not Ruben?
Arizona's junior senator goes to Iowa.
It’s way too early to think about the election of 2028, but it’s a nice escape from the daily news cycle, and it’s a fun way to analyze the direction of the Democratic Party.
The potential candidates are already thinking about 2028. Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego is traveling to Iowa this summer for a town hall, and he does not deny, when interviewed, that the Oval Office is within his range of political ambitions.
Ruben Gallego’s claim to fame is that he defeated a MAGA star in a swing state in the same year that Trump won. In retrospect, critics are dismissing the significance of this accomplishment because Kari Lake was such a weak candidate.
A couple thoughts on this point.
First, it would have been easy for a Democrat to lose to a weak MAGA candidate, especially in 2024 when the electorate was fed up with the Biden administration. A weak MAGA candidate is currently the Maricopa County Recorder because he beat a replacement-level Democrat. Gallego ran a smart, disciplined campaign and saved the state and the country from six years of Senator Kari Lake.
Second, Republican primary voters nominated Kari Lake even after she lost to Katie Hobbs for governor in 2022. A traditional conservative candidate didn’t even bother to compete in the 2024 primary. In the current gubernatorial primary in Arizona, Karrin Taylor Robson, who is more credible as a traditional conservative, is campaigning as a Trump loyalist. Gallego might not have been able to beat Doug Ducey for Senate, but that’s beside the point. The Republican Party is a MAGA party right now. They’re probably going to nominate JD Vance for president in 2028, unless Trump throws him under the bus like he did to Mike Pence.
Ruben Gallego has a good argument on electability. He would disrupt the working-class coalition that Trump’s populism built, as he did in Arizona. He would be more competitive than a glitzy progressive candidate like California Governor Gavin Newsom, and he doesn’t have the political baggage of a left-wing star like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has never had to compete in a swing state.
If Democrats aren’t going to nominate a pragmatic liberal governor like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, then why not Ruben Gallego?
Even if Gallego doesn’t run for president in 2028, the Democratic Party could use his advice on communications.
At a time when progressives are walking on eggshells out of fear of saying something offensive, this is how Ruben Gallego is talking:
Every Latino man wants a big-ass truck, which, nothing wrong with that. “And you’re gonna go start your own job, and you’re gonna become rich, right?” These are the conversations that we should be having. We’re afraid of saying, like, “Hey, let’s help you get a job so you can become rich.” We use terms like “bring more economic stability.” These guys don’t want that. They don’t want “economic stability.” They want to really live the American dream.
Some progressives are angry at Ruben Gallego because they see him as capitulating to the right on immigration. He voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act, a law that requires the detention of illegal immigrants accused of theft and violent crime. Only a handful of Democrats voted for this law. The other Democrats view it as an erosion of due process rights.
But Gallego is not a right-winger on immigration. His immigration plan includes “a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and long-term undocumented residents who contribute to our communities.”
When the anti-ICE protests were happening in Los Angeles, Gallego said,
Nobody protested when due process was followed and real criminals were targeted. This is about Trump abusing the system, separating families, and deporting kids. Now they're sending troops against civilians. This is deliberate chaos and an unnecessary escalation.
There is no doubt, in my view, that the Trump administration is going too far with their enforcement tactics. It bothers me to see masked agents arresting people at courthouses and worksites. Even Joe Rogan is bothered by what he is seeing from ICE right now.
What Gallego understands is that the Biden administration dropped the ball in a big way on border enforcement. The border is MAGA’s most potent issue. The center of the country wants an orderly, secure border. Biden, who was supposed to be the one to save the country from Trump, fumbled the issue and allowed Trump to make a comeback.
It would be political malpractice for Democrats not to follow Gallego’s lead on immigration heading into future elections.
Finally, a word on age and experience. Some Arizona Democrats might argue that our senior senator, Mark Kelly, would be a better option for president. Kelly is a former astronaut who has the persona of a no-shit guy. He soundly defeated a JD Vance-styled populist, Blake Masters, in 2022. Mark Kelly would have been a better VP candidate than Tim Walz.
Ruben Gallego, who is combat veteran, will be a 48-year-old first-term senator in 2028. Which is a year older than Barack Obama was when he ran for president as a first-term senator in 2008. Additionally, Gallego served in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten years prior to his election to the Senate — compared to Obama, who won his Senate seat directly after serving in the Illinois state legislature.
Obama has the highest favorability rating among all living former U.S. presidents.
If Gallego has presidential ambitions, it makes sense to prepare to give it a run.
I’m a traditional GOP voter. But I’m all for Ruben giving it a try. He makes more sense to me than any of the MAGA candidates I’ve seen. I wish him well.
I’m not crazy about Reuben running in 28. I’m all about Kelly with lots of help from Reuben. Kelly would take Vance to the woodshed in a debate. Vance is too smarmy. There is so much baggage with Trump. It’s way early. Let’s face it no one is Obama. His speech at the DNC was amazing, powerful and unforgettable for a young black man with big ears. Neither Reuben nor Kelly have that. I like where you’re going.