Gallego for Arizona
Meet Ruben
Ruben Gallego is the son of an immigrant mother from Colombia and an immigrant father from Mexico. He was raised in Chicago by his mother along with his three sisters and worked for most of his young adult life, including summer jobs at a hot dog joint and a meat packing plant.
Ruben Gallego is running for Senate to level the playing field for working families and ensure that all Arizonans have the same shot at the American Dream that he did.
The son of immigrants from Colombia and Mexico, Ruben was one of four kids raised by a single mother on a secretary’s salary. Growing up poor, he helped support his family by working as a janitor, a line cook, and at a meat-packing plant throughout high school. Despite his long hours, he earned a spot at Harvard University, where he again worked numerous odd jobs – including cleaning the bathrooms of his wealthier classmates – to pay his way through school.
Ruben enlisted in the Marine Corps, and deployed as an infantryman to Iraq, where his company saw some of the heaviest casualties of the Iraq War, losing 23 men, including his best friend. Ruben wrote a book about his experiences titled They Called Us “Lucky” — a story about his time in Iraq and the people he served with from blue-collar towns, immigrant households and the Navajo Nation.
After returning home, Ruben’s military service motivated him to seek public office and ensure that members of the military are never again sent into harm’s way without a plan for winning the fight and caring for those service members when they return home. From leading ballot initiatives as an Phoenix organizer to serving in the State House and, later, Congress, Ruben has been fighting hard for veterans and Arizona’s working families ever since.
In Washington, Ruben has distinguished himself as a leading and trusted voice on issues of national security. As the highest-ranking Latino on the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, Ruben played a pivotal role in overseeing the operations and priorities of our special forces and intelligence community — including by authoring the Intelligence and Special Operations budgets for FY2022 and FY2023, securing tens of billions of dollars to defend our national security.
In Washington, Ruben has distinguished himself as a leading and trusted voice on issues of national security. As the highest-ranking Latino on the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, Ruben played a pivotal role in overseeing the operations and priorities of our special forces and intelligence community — including by authoring the Intelligence and Special Operations budgets for FY2022 and FY2023, securing tens of billions of dollars to defend our national security.
Ruben will never forget where he came from, or the opportunities this country has given him to escape poverty and make a difference in the lives of Arizonans. But he also knows that the American Dream is falling further and further out of reach for many Arizona families — as the rich and powerful in Washington and on Wall Street leave them behind.
That’s what Ruben is running to change. Because whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, we all want the same thing – a better life for ourselves, and a better future for our kids. It’s just that simple.