PHOENIX — Put Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego down as a “maybe” on your list of 2028 presidential candidates.
Gallego is leaving the door open for a White House run, saying he and his family will have those conversations closer to the presidential race.
“Right now, I’m focused on 2026. We're going to deal with 2026,” he said Wednesday. “We’re going to make sure that we have a very good year as Democrats.”
Arizona’s junior senator said any decisions will come after the midterms.
“You know, I have three young kids,” he said. “Arizona is very far away, that takes a lot of travel.”
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His fellow Democrat, Sen. Mark Kelly, has gone further, saying he’s seriously considering a presidential run.
Kelly, Arizona’s senior senator, is up for reelection 2028. The retired Navy captain and former astronaut has raised eye-popping amounts of campaign cash.
Gallego spoke Wednesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an affordable housing development in Phoenix. He helped secure more than $1.3 million for the project when he was a congressman.
“We're going to make sure we continue these projects here, that we're dealing with housing, the housing crisis we have in America,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Gallego talked with constituents at a town hall focused on housing.
“The average homebuyer right now is 40,” he said. “That's ridiculous.”
Gallego is zeroed in on affordability and housing.
“What we need to focus on is, No. 1, bringing down the cost of things ... right now,” he said. “We need to bring more housing right now.”
The high cost of living is a top issue for Latino voters, many of whom voted for President Donald Trump in 2024. To appeal to those voters, Gallego said, Democrats need to talk to Latinos about how the party is there “to help them own their future.”
“They want to be able to start a family, buy a home, get a business, become successful, become rich, you know, all these things,” he said. “And Democrats need to talk to that aspiration.”
