Rep. Ruben Gallego says he will challenge Sinema for Arizona Senate seat

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., announced he will run in 2024 for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's seat, becoming the first serious Democratic challenger for the now independent senator.

Gallego, a former Marine and Iraqi War veteran, has served part of the Phoenix area in Congress since 2014. Both of his parents are immigrants.

"Growing up poor, all I had was the American dream," Gallego said in a message on Twitter announcing his candidacy. "It kept me going: as a kid sleeping on the floor, a student scrubbing toilets, a Marine losing brothers in Iraq.

"Today, too many Arizonans see their dream slipping away. I'm running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you."

In his video accompanying the tweet, Gallego talked about how his family and teachers supported him in getting into Harvard University. He addressed his challenges to PTSD after losing 23 members of his Marine company while fighting in Iraq.

"I found a new way to keep serving," Gallego said about his initial run for the House. "Most families feel they are one or two paychecks away from going under. That is not the way we should be living. The rich and the power, they don't need more advocates. It's the people who are still trying to decide between groceries and utilities that need a fighter for them."

Sinema announced last month that she was leaving the Democratic Party to hold her Senate seat as an independent. She had rankled her former fellow Democrats the past two years for not going along with plans to end the Senate filibuster to push through President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.

In leaving the Democratic Party in December, Sinema touted her work with "both parties and forged consensus on successful laws helping everyday Arizonans build better lives for themselves and their families."

Sinema said her switch won't change her work in the Senate, which leans more toward Democratic policies, but did not commit to caucusing with them.