Kari Lake at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on March 3, 2023 (Consolidated News Photos/Shutterstock.com)
Many Democrats have been feeling demoralized since the 2024 election — not only because of Kamala Harris' narrow 1.5 percent loss to now-President Donald Trump, but also, because Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate while narrowly holding the U.S. House of Representatives. Yet some Democrats, in 2025, have decent approval ratings in tough, competitive swing states — including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (63 percent, according to Impeach Research), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (59 percent, according to Morning Consult) and Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona (50 percent, according to the Phoenix-based Noble Predictive Insights).
Gallego is sounding the alarm about Democrats needing to step up their game among working-class voters in swing states. And he is taking his message beyond Arizona.
During a recent town hall event in a swing district in the Philadelphia suburbs, Gallego told attendees, "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. It ends up there aren't enough people in the tent to win elections."
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In an article published on June 3, Axios' Stephen Neukam emphasizes that Gallego is "making moves to appeal to moderates and boost his national profile barely five months after winning his seat."
"Axios has learned that Gallego — who kept his seat in the Democrats' column despite Trump's victory in Arizona — is planning additional stops in key battlegrounds over the coming months," Neukam reports. "The big picture: There are signs that Gallego's appeals to moderates and conservatives are starting to make a difference for him back home. Gallego's 50 percent statewide approval rating in May is higher than Trump's and Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs', according to a recent poll by Noble Predictive Insights, a Phoenix-based nonpartisan polling firm."
Liberal but not far-left, Gallego was a frequent critic of his predecessor: former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who he believed was hurting Democrats' legislative goals during Joe Biden's presidency. Facing an aggressive primary challenge from Gallego in 2024, Sinema left the Democratic Party and became an independent — then decided against seeking reelection.
Sinema, during her term, warned that Democrats should not alienate the center — especially in a tough swing state like Arizona. And now, Gallego has a similar message.
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According to Neukam, "One senior GOP operative said Gallego is the type of Democrat who appeals to the swing voters that both parties fight over at each election. Another senior GOP aide said Gallego is what Democrats wanted Gov. Tim Walz (D-Min.) to be in the 2024 election — a veteran from a working-class background who appeals to the middle."
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Read Stephen Neukam's full report for Axios at this link.