By Staff Reporter |
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) says he still would like to run for president, in spite of the recent allegations and controversies surrounding him.
Gallego revealed his continued intent to make a 2028 presidential run to KTAR News on Friday during a sit-down interview on Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos.
Gallego justified his electoral victories in Arizona and his Latino ethnicity as the basis of his proposed run, though he described Arizona as “red” rather than purple.
“There’s only a couple of Democrats that are thinking of running for president that have won red states. I’m one of them,” said Gallego. “There’s only a couple of Democrats who can speak to working-class Democrats, especially Latino men. I’m one of them.”
Gallego described his intent as “surface-level” and not too deep.
“We’re thinking about it, right? My first hurdle is: I have three children, and I do have a challenge of figuring out how to balance my time with them and my job and potentially running for office,” said Gallego.
New reporting issued earlier this week revealed that Gallego dated multiple staffers working for other members of Congress while he was serving in the House.
When asked about that past behavior during Friday’s interview, Gallego said he wasn’t “going to engage in gossip” in his past as a bachelor dating around in Congress. He said he supports a rule change to prohibit elected officials from dating other members’ staffers.
“I’m now happily married, I moved on,” said Gallego.
Gallego skirted around questioning as to whether his dating of other congressmembers’ staffers constituted impropriety.
“Anytime I dated anybody, my whole thing that I focused was on being a gentleman, acting like I would want someone to act when it comes to how someone would treat my daughters or my sisters, or things of that nature, and of course I treated everyone like adults and they treated me like adults,” said Gallego.
Gallego offered some defense of his former endorsees: Eric Swalwell, former congressman and California’s former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Gallego’s ex-longtime best friend, and Graham Platner, Maine’s former Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Both men withdrew from their respective races in their respective states this year following accusations of sexual misconduct and assault.
Gallego said he wasn’t always aware of Swalwell’s day-to-day, and therefore had no suspicions of sexual misconduct.
Gallego also defended his endorsement of Platner pre-sexual assault allegations, calling Platner’s Nazi tattoo “young, stupid Marine” behavior.
Gallego said any and all allegations against him were a product of “the right-wing echo system” based in politics and not truth.
“Guess what? Nothing has shown up. So they’re dogpiling with more and more misinformation,” said Gallego.
The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Gallego of the sexual and financial misconduct alleged in a complaint by a Republican congresswoman out of Florida, Anna Paulina Luna.
The committee reviewed records including from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Senate secretary expenditures, House of Representatives clerk’s expenditures, and privately sponsored travel documents.
The Department of Justice is investigating Gallego for alleged campaign finance misconduct.
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