Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego has defeated Kari Lake, a far-right former news anchor, to win the Senate seat vacated by retiring Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, NBC News projects.
Gallego, who began his career in electoral politics as a progressive who railed against Arizona’s harsh immigration laws, veered to the right during his Senate campaign. He backed a bipartisan bill that included some of the toughest anti-immigration measures in decades and praised support from the Trump-friendly Arizona Police Association.
But this race was largely determined by the struggles of his opponent. Lake’s habit of attacking local Republicans complicated her efforts to gain conservative support outside the MAGA base, and she was so steeped in Trumpian election denialism that she continues to this day still has not acknowledged its legal defeat in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election.
Although Trump won the presidential election in Arizona, Gallego’s victory continues a string of Democratic victories in key races there for statewide offices, including governor and secretary of state. Gallego becomes the first Latino senator in Arizona history.
Lake’s defeat amid a Trump triumph in the state was not an outlier in this election cycle. Although Republicans flipped several Democratic Senate seats, some incumbent Democrats held on even as Trump won their states, including in Nevada and Wisconsin.
Sinema, the state’s retiring senator and a Democrat-turned-independent, announced her plans to retire from the Senate in March. She was elected to the Senate in 2018 after running a progressive campaign, but was criticized by her supporters during her time in office for blocking President Joe Biden’s agenda and voting with Senate Republicans to maintain the filibuster keep. She said in September that she considers herself “fairly libertarian” and plans to work in the private sector after leaving the Senate.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
