Ruben Gallego travels to Pennsylvania amid 2028 shadow primary

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

05/05/2025 05:50 AM EDT


Ruben Gallego is setting off to a key battleground state to speak with voters this week, a sign the Arizona senator may have higher ambitions as some Democrats float him as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. Gallego will headline a May 10 town hall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a pivotal bellwether that President Donald Trump flipped in 2024, according to plans shared first with POLITICO.

“No one understands the struggles of working-class Americans like Ruben Gallego,” said Gallego’s chief of staff, Raphael Chavez-Fernandez. “He’s heading to Pennsylvania to speak directly to voters about what it means to fight for working-class families — because he’s lived their fight.”

Gallego is visiting the district held by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a perennial Democratic target, as part of an effort by the party to spotlight vulnerable Republicans over possible cuts to Medicaid and to pressure them to vote against Trump’s budget bill.

Gallego is the latest in a string of potential Democratic presidential candidates to hit the road in what is transforming into an all-out shadow primary years ahead of 2028. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is traveling to hold a town hall with a veterans group in Iowa this month, following his success in the presidential caucuses there in 2020. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headed to the early primary state of South Carolina to appear at a top Democratic dinner. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently visited New Hampshire, another early primary state, to keynote a dinner.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/05/ruben-gallego-pennsylvania-2028-00326180

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NOTE (Democrats on the road):

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is traveling to hold a town hall with a veterans group in Iowa this month, following his success in the presidential caucuses there in 2020. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headed to the early primary state of South Carolina to appear at a top Democratic dinner. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently visited New Hampshire, another early primary state, to keynote a dinner.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Gallego won't be the 2028 nominee

Unless something drastic changes at the DNC (get to work, Mr. Hogg!) the 2028 Democratic nominee will be a straight white male not named Shapiro (or now, Newsom).

[Hekate]

2. There's been a hue & cry that Dem politicians must, Must, MUST be visible & go to all states for town halls

I naively thought this was to get the Dem message out to the people, not for each and every one of them to be running for president.

Did I get this wrong? Or is the real intent to permanently knock everybody off the list when they poke their heads up?

[chowder66]

3. Here are his progressive scores

He gets a D.
[Me: Obviously he is a bit more to the center because of his state and district].

https://progressivepunch.org/scores.htm?topic=&house=senate&sort=crucial-lifetime&order=down&party=

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More about his record

The most support from Democrats for Trump's nominees came from five Democrats who had voted to support 10 (48%) of Trump's nominees so far:

https://ballotpedia.org/How_senators_voted_on_Trump_Cabinet_nominees,_2025

In 2018, Gallego rallied alongside Bernie Sanders, and in 2022 he called himself "a true progressive voice in Congress". By 2024, he no longer embraced the label "progressive". He let his membership in the Congressional Progressive Caucus lapse, which he claimed was a financial decision.[40]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Gallego#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20Gallego%20rallied%20alongside,embraced%20the%20label%20%22progressive%22.

.............

This overview is outdated but worth referring to

A Progressive Caucus member, Gallego's voting record on domestic policy is solid. He voted for the CPC's People's Budget and never breaks party lines to support conservative legislation. Though Gallego's foreign policy voting record is less hawkish then many of his fellow Democrats, it still leaves much to be desired. He initially ran for office on a fairly aggressive anti-war platform and was not shy in calling out Obama's foreign policy adventures. However, this progressive rhetoric is more than a little undercut by Gallego's votes to reauthorize the Patriot Act and provide the Pentagon a virtual blank check each year.
Gallego's sponsorship record is also a bit spotty. When it comes to bills on voting rights, criminal justice reform, and expanding healthcare, he is up there with the best of them. But Gallego always seems to be missing in action when the left is trying to muster support for an ambitious climate change or corporate regulatory policy. Most of the bills that Gallego personally introduces deal with immigration, veterans, and Native peoples. Important stuff, but hardly the red meat the left craves.
Where Gallego probably gets the most flack from the left is who he chooses to endorse. While most young progressives were lining up behind Bernie in 2016, Gallego was an early Clinton backer. After Trump won, Gallego was scathing in his criticism of Democratic leadership and called for Pelosi to step down as leader (which was good) but confusingly threw his support to Tim Ryan, who was running to Pelosi's right. Finally, in 2020 Gallego blundered his way through a series of embarrassing endorsements, first backing Eric Swalwell, then Kamala Harris, before finally settling on Joe Biden two weeks before the Arizona Primary. For an elected official who rose to power on the backs of progressives, he has an odd way of picking candidates to support.

https://www.progressivescore.com/legislator-database/ruben-gallego