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When Sen. Ruben Gallego came home from Iraq, he didn’t expect to become a counselor. But that’s what happened. One third of his Marine company had been killed or wounded, and when the survivors returned, they found themselves facing homelessness, suicide, and a broken VA. Sen. Gallego—armed with a Harvard degree and sheer grit—was the one they turned to.
“It took me forever to get services when I first got back from the war,” he told me. “Now we’re hearing doctors are rejecting the offer that the VA gave them. Imagine if you’re a veteran, you are going to have to get in line and wait in a very long line because these idiots decided to start doing arbitrary firings.”
That anger and responsibility propelled him into politics. But Sen. Gallego’s fight isn’t just about veterans. It’s about democracy itself. He recalled the moment he realized he could no longer look the other way at Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s obstruction.
“When democracy is on the line, when there’s an existential threat… that’s when you need to step up. And she didn’t step up. She downplayed it and said that the filibuster was more important than the institution of democracy. And now we’re going to have a rough two years because of her cowardice.”
That clarity carried him into one of the toughest Senate races of 2024. Sen. Gallego refused to run a cookie-cutter campaign. Instead, he spoke directly to the people most often overlooked.
“You ever see Han Solo when he’s trying to pull out with the Millennium Falcon? C-3PO starts saying the stats, and Han Solo says, ‘I don’t want to know the odds.’ I’m kind of the same person. Don’t tell me historically this is what Democrats do with this community. I don’t care. I’m going to do the best that I can.”
So he went to boxing gyms, carne asada cookouts, and rodeos. He talked openly about how Latino fathers were struggling to provide for their families while watching newcomers get opportunities they’d been denied. He didn’t dodge the border. He didn’t duck immigration. And in the end, he flipped assumptions on their head—winning over voters who had long been written off.
Today, Sen. Gallego is one of the most outspoken Democrats on foreign policy too. His breaking point with Netanyahu was clear:
“I’ve given more time and grace than I should’ve. And he clearly has taken advantage of that. For me, my breaking point was the fact that they weren’t letting food into Gaza. Our job is not to be unconditional support to Israel. We’re friends, we’re allies. Friends and allies talk to each other, friends and allies tell each other what’s wrong and what’s right.”
That’s the through-line with Sen. Gallego. Whether he’s standing up for veterans, challenging his own party, or demanding accountability abroad, he brings the same Marine-bred intensity: act quickly, adapt fast, and don’t flinch from the hard truth.
Ruben Gallego reminds us that democracy doesn’t defend itself. It takes courage, honesty, and yes, a little bit of fight. That’s what he brings to the table.
—Jaime
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