Levittown, Pennsylvania – In a town hall on Saturday in the county of Bucks, in Pennsylvania, Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona encouraged the Democratic Party to return to its roots as a “Big Tent” party.
“What happened in the last elections is that we became so pure, and we stayed so pure that we started to expel people from the tent,” said Gallego. “It ends there, there are not enough people in the tent to win elections.”
Gallego quoted the host of Podcast Joe Rogan as an example of someone “was expelled” from the tent because his message was not aligning completely with that of the party.
“I’m sure you heard,” Oh, well, Democrats need to have their own Joe Rogan, “said Gallego. “We had Joe Rogan. We canceled Joe Rogan years ago. Democrats do not want to admit it. We did it, and then it had become questionable if we have to go to Joe Rogan or not. We did this to ourselves.”
The Democratic Senator of Arizona’s first mandate has praised his own success in a state of battlefield as an example of the way in which Democratic candidates can gain in the future. Galigo Defeated republican Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race Last year by two points.
“I represent a state that has 330,000 registered Republicans that Democrats,” said Gallego. “You must have a lot of votes, and that means that we will have to have alliances with people that we may not agree with 100% of the time, right?”
This success fueled speculations that Gallego plans to present himself to the presidency in 2028. He is one of the few Democrats who make stops across the country, chatting to the voters, similar to the governor of Maryland Wes Moore and the former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“Of course, I thought about it, but I am also, you know, about to … have my third child on June 12, and I don’t want to divorce, and I became a American senator,” Gallego told CBS News. “I love my work and I have to make sure to do the two works well. This is not what I’m thinking at the moment.
When asked if he thinks that he will need a moderate like him to win the Pennsylvania in 2028, Gallego said that someone who would be able to sympathize with the voters on the questions that affected them.
“I think it will take someone who really understands what is going on. People were suffering in the last elections. I think the Democrats were spoiled by not really focusing on this,” said Gallego. “This person will be able to communicate it like, yes, things are bad. The economy hurts. You hurt and I’m here to help you.”
Gallego spoke in the county of Bucks, a key area of the battlefield north of Philadelphia that President Trump turned by a few hundred votes in 2024.
Mistrust and anger towards the Democratic Party were palpable at the town hall when a participant asked Gallego how Democrats should change their messaging in the future.
“People do not vote for a party, right? It is we who manage as a democrats. We must be the party’s face, and we must be there,” said Gallego. “The problem is that we are too safe all the time.”
