The grassroots work done by millions of progressives in states like Arizona has paid off in the historic non-red-wave results of the 2022 midterm elections. The traditional media outlets, the right-wing-o-sphere, and centrists like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema drank a big bowl of status quo Kool-Aid and have been proven terribly wrong. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona is the early favorite to primary the unpopular and formerly progressive Sinema for her Senate seat. He has openly criticized his state’s senator for her 180-degree turn away from all of her previously stated beliefs.
The day after the election, as the ballots continued to be counted in Arizona, Sen. Sinema tweeted, “Every vote counted, every voice heard. That’s how our democracy works. It may take some time for the results to be finalized, so in the meantime, let’s stay patient. Democracy is always worth the wait.” Anyone paying attention to Sinema’s antics over the past couple of years had to choke back anger at her grotesque cynicism. This is a person who voted against voter rights legislation in January of this year.
Rep. Gallego responded to Sinema’s tweet with a wry “Thanks for all your help this year.” On Sunday, Gallego elaborated about his feelings towards Sinema during an interview on MSNBC.
RELATED STORY: Rep. Ruben Gallego slams Kyrsten Sinema: ‘There’s nothing progressive about promoting rights’
Gallego reminded the audience that Sinema had nothing to do with this victory. In fact, the citizens of Arizona voted to reelect her counterpart, Sen. Mark Kelly, in spite of Sinema’s lack of enthusiasm for progressive politics. “The reason Democrats won is because we fought together as a party. I was out there campaigning for every Democrat in Arizona. I was personally donating money, raising money for them, for our senators, for everyone up and down the ticket. We fought as a team in Arizona and we won. Senator Sinema was nowhere to be found. At all.”
Rep. Gallego went on to say, “You did not see her at one public event for anybody. And when we have some of these races that are really in the mix right now, she could have been a very good surrogate to help out a lot of our candidates. And she did nothing because she only cares about herself. She doesn't care about how this would help us take control of the Senate.”
This isn’t some kind of political conspiracy Gallego is peddling. About five weeks ago, Sinema was hanging out with probably politically dead Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as she is wont to do these days, talking about how she felt pretty sure her political party would lose control of the Senate.
Gallego reminded the audience of this very fact, which combined with Sinema’s absence on the campaign trail, makes many think she drank too much of whatever Kool-Aid Mitch McConnell serves up. “She actually predicted that we'd lose control of the Senate in front of Mitch McConnell while she was going to work for him,” Gallego said. “So, you know, when she tweeted that, I decided I had to at least say something because you can't we just can't let this happen. She's either needs to get on the team, get involved, or try to make some future decisions about what she wants to do with her career.”
Asked about whether or not Rep. Gallego would like to become Senator Gallego, Ruben told MSNBC that “that’s a 2023 decision and we’re still in 2022.”
Run, Ruben, run!
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Check out Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast! Here’s our 25th episode with none other than Rep. Ruben Gallego, discussing these very elections. The podcast was originally released in June 2021, when Rep. Gallego gave us his thoughts on what we would see. He wasn’t wrong.