Gallego says Sinema ‘did nothing’ to help Arizona Dems in midterms

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Sunday said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) “did nothing” to help Arizona Democrats in the midterm elections.

“This year, the reason Democrats won is because we fought together as a party. I was out there campaigning for every Democrat in Arizona. I was personally donating, raising money for them, for our senators, for everyone up and down the ticket. We fought as a team in Arizona, and we won. Sen. Sinema was nowhere to be found — at all,” Gallego said on MSNBC’s “American Voices.”

“You did not see her at one public event for anybody, and when we have some of these races that are really in the mix right now, she could’ve been a very good surrogate to help out a lot of our candidates, and she did nothing, because she only cares about herself. She doesn’t care about how this would help us take control of the Senate,” Gallego said.

Arizona election officials are still counting ballots in the state six days after the midterms.

The high-profile gubernatorial race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake is still uncalled, with 93 percent of the state’s vote tallied and Hobbs up just 1 percentage point.

Two of Arizona’s nine House races, both with Republicans leading, still haven’t been called. Gallego was projected to win his reelection bid in the state’s 3rd District.

Democrats have pulled off surprising midterm wins, staving off the GOP’s “red wave” and bringing the battle for control of the House much closer than expected, but key races are treacherously tight.

Gallego, who has floated a possible 2024 challenge against Sinema, has also accused the senator of wanting Democrats to lose control of Congress.

The Democratic Party “can’t let this happen,” Gallego said Sunday of Sinema’s inaction. 

“She either needs to get on the team, get involved or try to make some future decision about what she wants to do with her career,” Gallego said.

Asked what he hopes Sinema learned from this year’s midterms, Gallego said, “I don’t think she’ll learn.”