By Staff Reporter |
Democratic Congressman and Senate candidate Ruben Gallego was characterized as having “walked out” on his wife and unborn child in a new attack ad from GOP forces.
The ad, created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said Gallego left his former wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, for a “D.C. lobbyist”: his current wife, Sydney Barron, a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.
“If deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego would abandon his own family, he won’t be there for Arizonans when it matters most,” stated the ad.
A press release accompanying the attack ad pointed out that Gallego continues to champion women’s rights and prioritizing women on issues like abortion and higher pay, yet walked away from the closest woman in his life.
NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell emphasized the timing of the Gallegos’ divorce as a disqualifier for Gallego serving in the Senate.
“Arizona women can’t trust a man who divorced his wife when she was weeks away from having their child,” said Mitchell.
Gallego once believed that divorce wasn’t an option, writing in a 2012 Twitter post that his Catholicism prevented him from ever seeking it. It’s unclear what changed for Gallego in the span of a few short years.
“I am Catholic [and] don’t believe in divorce,” said Gallego.
Gallego and Barron didn’t begin dating until several years after the divorce. The pair wed in 2021.
Ruben and Kate were married from 2010, the year Gallego joined Congress, to 2017, when Kate was still part of the city council. The pair divorced shortly before the birth of their son, Michael.
Kate became mayor of Phoenix in 2018, after then-Mayor Greg Stanton announced his run for Congress.
According to Gallego, he met Barron in 2018. Gallego and his second wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Isla, into the world last July.
The Phoenix mayor doesn’t publicly appear to hold hard feelings against her ex-husband. She endorsed him last December.
“I’m proud to endorse Ruben because I know first-hand his commitment to building a brighter future for Arizona,” said the mayor. “We have real challenges facing our state that require a leader who is dedicated to fighting for working families and the most vulnerable. He’ll do an excellent job working for all of us as our next senator.”
However, Gallego has excluded the mayor’s endorsement from his official endorsement page. The only Phoenix official he’s featured under his lengthy list of Arizona official endorsements is former vice mayor Yassamin Ansari, who is now running for Congress.
The GOP attack line on Gallego’s love life and fatherhood record wasn’t a new concept rolled out recently. The NRSC released a similar ad last November with the characterization of Gallego as a “deadbeat dad.”
Gallego has posted about his son from his personal, now campaign account nearly every single month last year, with a sporadic array of posts in the years prior.
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