Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego says Democrats "did this to ourselves"
/ CBS News
Levittown, Pennsylvania — At a town hall Saturday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona encouraged the Democratic party to return to its roots as the "big tent" party.
"What happened the last election is that we got so pure, and we kept so pure that we started kicking people out of the tent," Gallego said. "It ends up there aren't enough people in the tent to win elections."
Gallego cited podcast host Joe Rogan as an example of someone "kicked out" of the tent because his message did not completely align with the party's.
"I'm sure you guys heard like, 'Oh, well, the Democrats need to have their own Joe Rogan,'" Gallego said. "We had Joe Rogan. We canceled Joe Rogan years ago. Democrats don't want to admit this. We did, and then it was, became questionable whether we should go on Joe Rogan or not. We did this to ourselves."
The first-term Democratic senator from Arizona touted his own success in a battleground state as an example of how Democratic candidates can win moving forward. Gallego defeated Republican Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race last year by two points.
"I represent a state that has 330,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats," Gallego said. "You have to get a lot of votes, and that means we're going to have to have alliances with people that we may not agree with 100% of the time, right?"
This success has fueled speculation that Gallego is considering running for president in 2028. He's one of a handful of Democrats making stops across the country, talking to voters, similar to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"Of course, I've thought of it, but I'm also, you know, about to… have my third kid coming June 12, and I don't want to get divorced, and I just became a US senator," Gallego told CBS News. "I love my job, and I need to make sure I do both jobs well. That's not what I'm thinking about right now.
When asked if he thinks it will take a moderate like him to win Pennsylvania in 2028, Gallego said it will take someone who is able to empathize with voters on issues impacting them.
"I think it's going to take someone that really understands what's going on. People were hurting in the last election. I think the Democrats messed up by not really focusing on that," Gallego said. "This person is gonna be able to communicate that like, yeah, things are bad. The economy hurts. You're hurting, and I'm here to help you out."
Gallego spoke in Bucks County, a key battleground area north of Philadelphia that President Trump flipped by a few hundred votes in 2024.
Distrust and anger toward the Democratic party were palpable at the town hall when one participant asked Gallego how Democrats should change their messaging moving forward.
"People don't vote for a party, right? It's us that run as Democrats. We need to be the face of the party, and we need to be out there," Gallego said. "The problem is that we are too effing safe all the time."
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