Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, has been getting phone calls to run against fellow Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in 2024, CNN reports.
The news: Senate Democrats and other lawmakers have been calling on Gallego to challenge the senator.
- “It wasn’t Bernie, I’ll tell you that,” Gallego told CNN.
- “It’s more than one” senator, though, he said.
- “To be honest, I have gotten a lot of encouragement from elected officials, from senators, from unions, from your traditional Democratic groups, big donors,” said Gallego. “Everything you can imagine under the sun.”
Something to note: Recently, Sanders did call for primary challenges against Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
- “These are people who I think have undermined the president of the United States,” Sanders said, per Business Insider.
- He said the two senators ”can expect to find primary challenges.”
Why it matters: Sinema holds a valuable spot in Congress as she and Manchin have been seen as conservative Democrats who have stopped the Democratic progressive agenda.
The bigger picture: Sinema has been an enigmatic Arizona senator during her time in Congress. She recently decided to not support filibuster reform, which blocked her party’s efforts to pass new voting rights legislation.
- As the Deseret News’ Ethan Bauer wrote, Sinema has been called arrogant by her critics but principled by her fans.