PHOENIX — Arizona Senate candidates Republican Kari Lake and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego faced off in their first and only debate as early voting started Wednesday, trading zingers on their very different records.
“You’ve been to Mar-a-Lago more than you’ve been to the border,” Gallego said to Lake, a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
He also asked Lake if she accepted her 2022 gubernatorial loss — but the Republican deflected to address the climate-change question the moderators had actually posed.
Lake called out Gallego’s seeming shift to the center early in the debate, noting his previous co-chairmanship of the House Progressive Caucus.
“Tonight, we’re going to watch as somebody tries to reinvent himself,” she said of her opponent, who is no longer in the Progressive Caucus as he seeks a Senate spot.
Outside these fiery exchanges, much of the debate highlighted border security and immigration — a top issue among Grand Canyon State voters.
“Murderers have come in, criminals have come in, and terrorists have come in,” Lake said, referring to a Immigration and Customs Enforcement report revealing 13,000 convicted murderers were released into the country after crossing the border. That number isn’t exclusively those who entered under the Biden-Harris administration, though the report does show a significant increase in the last four years.
Lake expressed support for Trump’s plans to resume wall construction and deport those who have entered the country illegally under President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Gallego said he backs the congressional border bill touted by Democrats and a small number of Republicans, which he argued would help thwart fentanyl trafficking and improve some immigration laws.
“From day one, I’ve worked in a bipartisan manner when it comes to this,” he said, pointing also to legislation he’s supported to make it easier for veterans to become Border Patrol agents.
Moderators also asked the candidates about abortion — there’s an Arizona ballot proposition that would put the right to an abortion in the state’s Constitution.
“It’s going to be up to us, and we’re going to decide in November,” Lake said, adding she doesn’t support a federal abortion ban or taxpayer dollars going to the procedure. “It’s going to be up to us, and I want us to have that choice, and whatever choice that ends up being I will respect.”
“I would codify Roe,” Gallego said, echoing national Democrats who hope to make abortion access federally protected after the Supreme Court sent the issue back to the states in 2022.
The economy was also a focal point of the debate — particularly Trump’s 2017 tax legislation that’s set to expire in 2025.
Lake said she supports extending the tax cuts. In the spin room after the debate, Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso said Trump’s proposals to end taxes on tips and overtime pay are part of a refreshed policy besides GOP plans to extend those cuts.
Gallego voted against the tax cuts in 2017. “We also need to bring in a child tax credit as part of that Trump tax cut,” he said on stage while noting his concerns about how the tax provisions would benefit the wealthy compared with the middle class.
The candidates are competing for the seat of outgoing independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and said in March she wasn’t running for re-election.
Gallego holds an average 7.8-point polling lead, according to RealClearPolitics, and Cook Political Report ranks the race “lean Democratic.”
As expected, both campaigns took a victory lap after the night ended.
“Tonight you heard two very different versions for our future,” Gallego tweeted. “Kari will continue to divide our communities and spread dangerous lies just to gain power. I believe in a better way. People from every party, from all over Arizona, working for a better future — together.”
“Tonight’s debate was a clear victory for Kari Lake,” her campaign said. “Kari was able to effectively expose Gallego’s decade-long radical record in Congress, and lay out her plan to solve the issues that he has caused. Ruben Gallego failed to defend his record or his flip-flops on the issues. We couldn’t be more proud of Arizona’s next Senator, Kari Lake.”
