PHOENIX (AP) — Ruben Gallego and Kari Lake meet Wednesday for the only debate of the Arizona Senate race, a matchup that comes as voters begin casting their ballots in a contest that will help regain control of the U.S. Senate to be determined.
Lake, a well-known former television news anchor and a darling of the populist right, has tried but struggled to redefine herself since losing the 2022 race for governor.
Gallego, a Democratic congressman who represents largely Latino areas of Phoenix, has used his financial advantage over Lake to run ads that highlight his military service and personal story rather than his progressive record in Congress.
The debate, which will air live on most television stations in the state at 9 p.m. EDT, offers Lake a chance to reset a race in which polls and observers suggest she is modestly behind. For Gallego, it’s a chance to introduce himself to voters who still don’t know him.
Both candidates are trying to win over a small portion of Republicans and conservative independents who are open to splitting their votes between the parties. This group has played a major role in the rise of Democrats in Arizona, which has gone from a Republican stronghold to a battleground state over the past decade.
They have fought to concentrate voters in the area most favorable to them.
For Gallego, that’s abortion rights after a state Supreme Court ruling banned virtually all abortions until the Legislature rolled back the deadline to 15 weeks. Lake has spoken positively about stricter limits.
Lake prefers to talk about the U.S.-Mexico border. She paints a bleak picture of drug and human trafficking, linking Gallego to documenting border crossings and disorder during President Joe Biden’s administration. She highlights his previous critical comments about a border wall.
Lake is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and his lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud. She has never acknowledged losing her own race for governor in 2022, and continued to fight the outcome in court even after launching her campaign for Senate. In addition, she has tried but failed to convince courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, to ban the use of electronic voting machines.
She also highlighted Ruben Gallego’s 2016 divorce from Kate Gallego, who is now mayor of Phoenix. Lake notes that the marriage ended weeks before the birth of the couple’s son and says Gallego abandoned his wife while she was pregnant. Kate Gallego has supported her ex-husband and campaigned with him last week.
Gallego is a military veteran who has served in Congress for 10 years.
The son of immigrants from Mexico and Colombia, he was raised in Chicago by a single mother and eventually admitted to Harvard University. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve while on a break from Harvard. He fought in Iraq in 2005 in a unit that suffered heavy casualties, including the death of his best friend.
