Rep. Ruben Gallego handed a huge gift to Arizona’s Mark Kelly today, announcing he is not seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. senate next year.
Gallego is well-connected to the liberal base of the Democratic Party, and many activists hoped the Phoenix Democrat would provide an option to the left of Kelly, a retired astronaut who has run a centrist campaign since he jumped into the race last month.
But Gallego said he doesn’t want to engage in a bitter primary before pivoting to the general election for a seat that’s crucial for Democrats eying the Senate majority.
“Republicans want a bitter primary between Democrats so they can hold this seat,” Gallego told reporters in Washington. “And you know what, if they want that, they’re going to have to find another race.”
Arizona has long been a Republican stronghold, but Democrats made big inroads in 2018, including the election of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and see the state as potentially competitive in next year’s presidential election.
“As a Navy guy, I know it’s always better to avoid a fight with a Marine,” Kelly said in a statement from his campaign. “I have a lot of respect for Congressman Gallego’s service to our nation. I look forward to working with him to stand up for Arizona families.”
Kelly has signaled he’ll run a centrist campaign like the successful one waged in 2018 by Sinema.
He retired from NASA and the Navy, becoming an advocate for gun control laws after his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head in an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a constituent event in 2011.
A poll conducted last month showed Kelly in a statistical tie with Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ).
The survey, conducted by the Phoenix-based firm OH Predictive Insights, found McSally leading Kelly by a 46 percent to 44 percent margin.
That edge is well within the poll’s 4 percentage point margin of error.
McSally is a former congresswoman from the same district as Giffords.
She was appointed to McCain’s seat after she narrowly lost to Sinema in the election for Arizona’s other Senate seat.
The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain’s term.
The seat will be up again for a full six-year term in 2022.
McCain, a legendary and beloved Arizona politician, died last year from an aggressive form of brain cancer after more than three decades in the Senate.
Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a longtime Republican who became a critic of President Donald Trump and registered as a Democrat, also considered a run but decided against it out of concerns about a nasty primary.
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