One Senate Democrat offers some tough love to his party, urging members to shift away from the Obama-era insanity and embrace President Donald Trump’s playbook.
Sen. Ruben Gallego positioned himself as a pragmatic Democrat in a New York Times podcast interview Monday, one who broke with his party’s narrative on key voter issues in 2024, allowing him to win his seat in the Republican-leaning state of Arizona
Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris by 5.5 points in Arizona in 2024. Still, Gallego attributed his Senate win to him prioritizing voter concerns like economic affordability and border security over traditional Democrat priorities, such as abortion and threats to democracy.
Gallego urged his party to shift toward messages of prosperity rather than the equity or justice narrative that became popular among Democrats during the Obama administration and was the focal point of the Harris campaign. He believes his winning strategy could be the blueprint for a Democratic Party revival, contrasting it with far-left figures like New York’s Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani.
Although he doesn’t blatantly admit that he wants Democrats running Trump’s playbook, he repeatedly aligns his policy stances with elements of Trump’s successful 2024 campaign. He emphasizes that the winning messages, especially for Latino voters, are tough border enforcement, economic opportunity through personal success, and a rejection of Democrat’s typical left-wing messaging. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
“They wanted to talk about abortion and democracy … But what we were seeing on the ground in Arizona was that people were worried about being able to make the rent; they were worried about border security,” he said.
Throughout the interview, Gallego distances himself from core Democrat issues, such as expansive social equity programs, identity-focused language, and prioritizing cultural battles over kitchen-table economics.
Gallego frames border insecurity as intertwined with economic decline, much like Trump’s rallies where he linked illegal immigration to job losses and crime. He stressed that Harris’ weakness on border security was a decisive factor in her Arizona loss because voters were deeply concerned about the safety and economic hardship brought on by unchecked illegal immigration during the Biden administration.
“We were very real about what was actually happening on the ground, and we didn’t lie to ourselves. I think a lot of Democrats running — and it wasn’t just Vice President Harris — they wanted to talk about the things they were comfortable talking about. They didn’t want to go to where the voter was,” he said.
He added that voters “were worried about border security; and they were worried about what is truly happening to the American dream,” and Democrats reluctancy to talk about these issues made them seem “extremely out of touch” to everyday Americans.
“Democrats sound too much like Harvard professors and not enough like Marine Corps members,” Gallego said.
He argued that other Democrats assume working-class voters “don’t want to be prosperous, they don’t want to be rich, or they don’t want to be successful,” leading voters feeling left behind to Trump’s promises to fix the economy, border, and foreign policies that hinder their access to the American Dream.
🚨NEW: Stephen A. Smith WARNS Dems will be *DOOMED* if they become like Zohran Mamdani🚨
“If the Democratic Party becomes him, you have no chance. You have no chance — on a national basis in terms of the presidency. In Senate seats, seats in the House — you have no chance.”… pic.twitter.com/12dQ7J2OlN
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) July 1, 2025
Gallego criticizes Democrats for fixating on “economic equity” and “ideas of essentially trying to equalize capitalism,” calling it “nebulous” and unappealing. He wants his party to reject from Democratic staples like wealth redistribution, universal basic income, or racial equity initiatives, which are top campaign promises from candidates like Mamdani. Instead Gallego wants other Democrats to focus on tangible goals like homeownership and business startups over broad social programs.
“What I’ve heard coming from the Democratic side … is that they talk about economic equity… And that’s just not how people think,” he said. (ROOKE: Trump Fights Media On Goldilocks Issue, But Americans Tell Him He’s Got It Just Right)
To Gallego’s credit, he is focused on important voter issues. He banned his campaign from using the extremely unpopular “Latinx” term and talked to regular Americans about their personal financial concerns, which is exactly how Trump won back the White House. Much like with Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, this move to the middle isn’t going to make him popular among his party’s far left base.
Still, if Democrats don’t listen to their party’s center, it’s hard to see the 2026 midterms being any different than 2024.
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