Ruben Grilling

Ladies and gentlemen, meet a future member of the Failed Democratic Senate Candidates Club!

Yes, in the tradition of Harvey Gantt, Ron Klink, Harold Ford, Jr., Kendrick Meek, Beto O'Rourke, Cal Cunningham, Theresa Greenfield, Sarah Gideon, Val Demings and Tim Ryan, I present Ruben Gallego, a declared Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona in 2024!

Gallego plans to run against incumbent Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who is now an independent and his best known for stalling President Biden's agenda, which Gallego has ardently supported.

So why do I think the five-term U.S House member, who has a liberal record on voting rights, abortion rights, and economic issues and is considered a leading House progressive, is going to lose his Senate bid next year?  Mainly because he's a leading House progressive in a center-right state.  But there's another reason.  Senator Sinema isn't going to go down without a fight.  She will inevitably get enough signatures to run for re-election as an independent, and many moderate Democrats are likely to support her.  The split in the Democratic vote is only going to make it so much easier for the Republican Senate nominee to win Sinema's seat in 2024.  

And unlike Democrats, who blacklist failed Senate candidates to keep them from running a second time, Republicans happily give failed Senate candidates another chance for a seat . . . and they also let failed candidates for other offices run for Senate as well.  This means that the next U.S. Senator from Arizona will likely be either election denier Blake Masters or election denier Kari Lake. 

Meanwhile, expect Gallego, who appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show this past Monday to talk about his candidacy, to be a regular guest of Lawrence O'Donnell just as Janis Joplin was a regular guest on Dick Cavett's talk show . . . until Wednesday, November 6, 2024, when O'Donnell will suddenly have trouble remembering Gallego's name.

Most people will have already forgotten it.