Sen. Ruben Gallego stands out as a key Democrat in reaching out to Latino voters

MIAMI (AP) — On a warm Sunday morning in Miami, Sen. Ruben Gallego got out of the car and approached parishioners who were emerging from church under palm trees, handing out flyers in this Dominican neighborhood. Gallego left some of his staff behind while rallying support for a fellow Democrat who is running to be the next mayor of the majority-Hispanic city.

“Lots of enthusiasm,” he told churchgoers, which is Spanish for “nice to meet you.”

He said: “Ruben Gallego de Arizona,” introducing himself without mentioning that he was a member of the US Senate.

The Arizona Democrat is emerging as a decisive alternative to a party desperate to regain Latino support that declined in 2024 with the election of President Donald Trump. His fall travel included trips to New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, where he campaigned for Democrats who won their elections. Strategists say Gallego is flexing his muscles as a rising star for the party while also laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run even though he’s not a household name like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Gallego is expected to continue in that role next year, when Democrats hope to break the Republican grip on Congress and confront Trump’s agenda.

“Ruben Gallego will be our not-so-secret secret weapon,” said Maria Cardona, a longtime Democratic activist and member of the Democratic National Committee.

An alternative in high demand

Gallego is among the Democrats named as potential 2028 contenders who had the busiest travel calendar in 2025. He competed with female Democratic candidates in the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races and the Miami mayor’s race.

“Ruben brings them instant validation not just because his last name is Gallego,” said Chuck Rocha, who mobilized Latinos for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid in 2020 and for Gallego in 2024. “He risked his life for his country, grew up in an immigrant home from nothing, and is now a U.S. senator. This is the kind of guy you want standing next to you and talking to Latinos about why they should vote for him.” This white woman.”

In the 2024 presidential election, Trump made inroads in heavily Puerto Rican areas in eastern Pennsylvania, around the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas and improved his numbers along the Interstate 4 corridor in Florida by focusing heavily on the economy and border security.

But recent election results show signs that major voting groups, including Hispanics, are turning away from Republicans. In Miami, Eileen Higgins became the first Democratic mayor elected in nearly 30 years.

“We will go to places where there is a large Latino population,” Gallego told The Associated Press in Miami. “They obviously shifted a little bit in our opinion of Trump last time, and we want to talk to Democrats and we want to talk to Latinos, and we want to talk to candidates about how we get that population back into our corner,” he added.

Gallego himself bested Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, when he won a Senate seat in Arizona by more than 2 points while Trump won the state by about 6 points. He gives the Republican president credit for his border security measures and, at times, praises Trump’s brash style for not overthinking economic proposals when crafting his populist messaging with ideas like “no tax on tips.”

“We need to be identified as pro-working class,” Gallego said at a recent event.

How affordability is personal

Gallego grew up in poverty in Chicago’s Evergreen Park and frequented Little Village, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood on the city’s southwest side. He was raised by a single mother after his father left the family and was imprisoned for drug use. Gallego worked multiple jobs to help pay the bills while still in high school. He was accepted to Harvard, joined the Marines and fought in Iraq with a unit that suffered heavy casualties.

“Democrats are all talking now about affordability, affordability, affordability,” said Jesse Lerich, a Democratic strategist. “But how many of them actually know what it’s like to not know where their next rent check is coming from? Or not know how they’re going to pay for groceries this week?”

He watches: Rep. Ruben Gallego speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention

There aren’t too many upper-crust Democrats who look like regular people, said Lerich, who closely follows the travel and media appearances of 2028 contenders, adding that, by contrast, Gallego can be “rough around the edges.”

The senator, who previously served in the US House of Representatives, likes to brag that he did not listen to the establishment in Washington when he decided to host boxing match viewing parties and staged a rodeo and a low-rider car show, dismissing concerns that it would be seen as condescending to Hispanic supporters.

It doesn’t look as polished as others like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, but Lerich says that may be to Gallego’s advantage because people crave smoothness.

“He feels perfect right now,” Leriche said.

Latinos on the Republican Party side

Some strategists and commentators say the Democratic Party has not done a good job of raising the profile of Hispanic candidates at the national level. They worry that Republicans are backing another former Latino senator and now secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who ran for president in 2016 and is often mentioned by Trump when talking about 2028.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a political commentator, said she sees Gallego’s strength not only in attracting Latino voters, but also in the broader electorate in battleground districts, emphasizing how difficult it is for a candidate to drag himself to the finish line when the presidential nominee has not done so in that state.

“I think winning a very tough seat pushed him over the top,” Hinojosa said. “Democrats need to think about how to think about Latinos if Republicans have a Latino on the ticket and Democrats don’t.”

In response to a question about the possibility of his running for president in 2028, Gallego indicated that it was too early to talk about it.

“My math is I have three kids. I have six years in the Senate,” he said. He added: “We will focus on that, and we are here to help Democrats across the country, and we will see what happens in the future.”

This story has been corrected to show that Gallego grew up in Evergreen Park, not the hamlet.