By Kellen Browning and Jennifer Medina
On the Friday before Election Day, Rep. Ruben Gallego welcomed his backers to Rancho Ochoa, a rodeo venue positioned in southwestern Phoenix, where they enjoyed a brass band, cheered as bull riders fought to stay on, and watched the graceful movements of dancing horses, a traditional element of Mexican rodeos.
This event marked a triumphant conclusion to Gallego’s extensive outreach to Latino voters as he competed for Arizona’s open Senate seat — an effort that seemed to yield positive results. Despite a significant swing of Latinos, particularly Latino men, away from Democrats this year, as President-elect Donald Trump surpassed Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona by over 5 percentage points, Gallego managed to secure victory by more than 2 points, appearing to notably outperform Harris among Latino voters.
The shift towards Trump has left Democrats, who historically believed that demographic changes would result in electoral success, bewildered and searching for solutions. Some are considering Gallego, a straightforward military veteran and son of Colombian and Mexican immigrants, who possesses numerous insights on how his party might reclaim working-class voters and avoid taking the Latino community for granted.
In an interview, Gallego remarked that the Democratic Party has neglected to tackle the deep-rooted anxieties that Latino men experience regarding increasing costs, which hinder their ability to support their families, regardless of their hard work.
“Latino men perceive their role as providing security for their families — both economic and physical security,” he stated. “And when that gets jeopardized, they start looking elsewhere.”
Gallego invested considerable resources in winning over Latino men in a manner that many voters and strategists described as authentic. He was swift to adopt strong positions on the immigration crisis and to directly address blue-collar workers’ grievances regarding high prices, even amidst favorable traditional economic indicators.
“I recognize how hard you’re working, where your wages just haven’t aligned with expenses,” he expressed in an April television ad. “And that is not your fault.”
Democrats and Arizona political strategists acknowledged that there are insights the party could derive from Gallego’s campaign, yet they warned that his success was partly based on factors that are challenging to duplicate. Gallego contended with a particularly unpopular Republican, Kari Lake, while also being a Latino man from a working-class background. Furthermore, he leveraged his Harvard University background and his young family to attract suburban white voters.
“You cannot rely solely on his cultural identifiers to resonate with Latinos,” remarked Regina Romero, the mayor of Tucson, Arizona. “That aspect can enhance the overall approach, but the foundation must be rooted in significant issues. I believe that as Democrats, we must focus on advocating for working families and championing workers’ rights.”
Romero pointed out that many of Gallego’s strategies were also utilized by Harris, including her narrative about growing up as the child of immigrants, and noted that the candidates defeated by Trump and Gallego share a common trait: they are women.
As a congressman from a strongly blue area of Phoenix, Gallego had been recognized for years as a vocal progressive, and he and his allies actively sought to push out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat turned independent, after she aligned with Republicans to thwart aspects of President Joe Biden’s agenda. (She subsequently announced she would not seek reelection.)
Gallego’s campaign posited that it could effectively engage both working-class voters — especially Latinos — and highly educated white suburbanites by emphasizing a relatable aesthetic that showcased the candidate’s modest roots and working-class upbringing.
Gallego often shares stories about being raised with his three sisters by their mother in Chicago, working at food stands and construction sites as a teenager to support them, and at times sleeping on the floor of the family’s living room. He attended Harvard and served in the Iraq War as a Marine, experiencing combat in a unit that incurred significant casualties.
As a Senate hopeful, he took proactive measures to convey his understanding of the Latino community, establishing niche groups like Jefas (female bosses) con Gallego and Compas (bros) con Gallego, specifically aimed at engaging Latino men.
Ilse Rodriguez, Gallego’s deputy political director responsible for Latino outreach, stated that she aimed to ensure the campaign’s initiatives felt sincere. She rejected a corrido — a Mexican narrative song — crafted by out-of-state artists because it seemed “more techno, Florida-esque, much more East Coast.” Instead, she brought in a local band.
Rodriguez convinced the campaign’s consultants to approve a flyer that resembled a lotería card — associated with a Mexican game akin to bingo — featuring Gallego, and she organized events designed to portray him as an everyday person. He participated in grilling at carne asada gatherings, spent time at an auto repair shop, and distributed breakfast tacos to construction workers during early shifts.
Most importantly, he conveyed that he understood their economic struggles.
Gallego indicated that Democrats have fallen short in linking certain policy aspects, like the bipartisan infrastructure law, to tangible improvements in people’s lives.
“Until people genuinely experience benefits — such as increased wages, reduced costs, and enhanced security — you won’t receive credit,” he commented.
He proposed that Democrats lacked a notable initiative they could point to that directly aided people, such as the expanded child tax credit that provided up to $300 monthly payments per child during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it was temporary. Without a tangible benefit for voters to latch onto, Gallego suggested, decisions were being made based on “vibes.”
“If you’re relying on vibes, you’d better ensure you currently have a better vibe than your competitor,” he remarked. “And guess what? No one vibes better than freaking Donald Trump.”
Gallego possessed a built-in advantage in his efforts to engage Latino men for their votes: he genuinely embodied the beer-drinking, backslapping macho persona that made his endeavors feel authentic.
Other candidates “fail to grasp that segment of the electorate because they aren’t Marine combat veterans who grew up in tough circumstances, literally fighting and performing dangerous tasks in foreign countries,” noted Chuck Rocha, a seasoned Democratic consultant who is a friend of Gallego and provided advice for his campaign. “People try to emulate Ruben Gallego — not in totality, but trying to project toughness and masculinity. It’s clear when they’re not being genuine.”
This could pose challenges for candidates who lack Gallego’s personal history and background in effectively reaching out.
However, Rocha mentioned that it remains feasible to connect with blue-collar voters without mirroring their experiences or appearances. Candidates must simply portray authenticity and focus on delivering a message grounded in economic populism.
Gallego has consistently cautioned against solely depending on identity politics to attract Latino voters. Back in 2020, he criticized Democrats for utilizing “Latinx,” a gender-neutral term championed by liberal figures but criticized by many Latinos for its awkwardness in Spanish.
He acknowledged that he successfully leveraged identity politics within his own campaign, particularly emphasizing his background as he prepared to become Arizona’s first Latino senator. However, he also consistently emphasized his commitment to supporting families through cost reductions.
“You can use identity politics as a means of connection, but you must ultimately deliver an economic narrative,” Gallego stated. “At present, there are two conflicting schools of thought, and both are incorrect. You have to do both.”
