Latest news with #Gallego
NBC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Arizona senators press Trump Cabinet secretary on response to Grand Canyon wildfire
Arizona's senators are demanding answers from the Department of the Interior over its handling of a devastating wildfire that is still burning out of control on the Grand Canyon's North Rim. In a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly questioned the department's initial response to the Dragon Bravo Fire. The blaze spread quickly over the weekend and destroyed dozens of structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, a visitor center and a wastewater treatment plant. 'It has been reported that National Parks Service officials initially decided to monitor the fire as a controlled burn, but changed their approach as strong winds allowed the fire to jump multiple containment features,' the senators wrote in the letter. 'There are many questions over the initial decision to treat this fire as a controlled burn and subsequent decisions on how to respond.' Neither the National Park Service nor the Department of the Interior immediately responded to requests for comment. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the federal response, particularly the decision to 'manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer,' she said in a post on X. 'An incident of this magnitude demands intense oversight and scrutiny into the federal government's emergency response,' Hobbs wrote. 'They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage. But Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park.' As of Monday, the fire has consumed more than 5,700 acres and remains 0% contained, according to InciWeb, the U.S. Forest Service's wildfire information site. Gallego and Kelly said they were concerned that early decisions by the federal government 'may have affected the spread of fire in northern Arizona,' particularly since the North Rim has been under weeks of extreme heat and experienced a dry winter. The senators asked Burgum to detail the factors that contributed to the initial decision to treat the fire as a controlled burn. Controlled burns are fires that are intentionally set or allowed to burn to reduce the amount of dry and flammable vegetation in an area. These kinds of burns are used to manage ecosystems that need periodic fires to stay healthy and also to lower the risk of bigger wildfires from breaking out. Gallego and Kelly called the Grand Canyon 'Arizona's crown jewel,' and asked about the resources available to fight the wildfire. They also questioned how the Interior Department plans to prevent other blazes from spreading. The senators requested responses by Aug. 10. The Dragon Bravo Fire was started by lightning on July 4. The National Park Service said Sunday that the blaze 'exhibited extreme and volatile fire behavior the evening of July 12, resulting in a 500-acre expansion.' The fire's rapid expansion was fueled by sustained winds of 20 mph and gusts reaching up to 40 mph, according to the NPS. Early assessments suggest that between 50 to 80 structures have been lost, but no injuries or deaths have been reported so far. A separate, bigger blaze known as the White Sage Fire is also burning north of the Dragon Bravo Fire. The White Sage Fire has consumed more than 49,000 acres and is also 0% contained, according to InciWeb.
The Hill
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Whole Hog Politics: Democrats diving headfirst into 2028 race
On the menu: Carry them back to old Virginny; Big mad mood; GOP senators fret about Musk; Liberian lingo; Reaching the checkered flag There's 'testing the waters' and then there's going off the high dive — for instance, announcing a visit to the Iowa State Fair by posting a video of yourself that begins with a crowd chanting your name over Queen's 'We Will Rock You.' Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) is not acting bashful about the possibility that he may contend for his party's 2028 presidential nomination, nor is he alone. California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned in South Carolina this week, taking special pains to reach out to black voters, including those represented by Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), meanwhile, was kicking off a new national effort funded by Democratic mega-donors in Philadelphia. And, perhaps sensing that ours is not a time for reluctant self-promoters, the previously bashful Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, kicked the door wide open to a potential run. Having watched Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) soak up lots of limelight for her successful support of Zohran Mamdani in New York's primary mayoral election last month, the rest of the Democratic field seems to be in a hurry to get into the conversation. But where to begin? As the differing destinations of Gallego and Newsom suggest, there isn't a great deal of clarity just now about where and in what order the Democratic nominating process will unfold. The party ripped up its primary calendar in 2024 in order to protect former President Biden, who was a vulnerable incumbent, pushing away progressive voters in New Hampshire and Iowa in favor of more moderate electorates in South Carolina and Michigan. This time, it's very much an open question. Gallego, Newsom, Shapiro and Beshear join Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the pool of Democratic water testers visiting potential early primary states and courting party power brokers. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and her 2024 running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are both potential contenders, but one imagines Democrats will be very much in the mood for something new and different next time around. Different like you-know-who. After a springtime campaign swing that drew massive crowds in California and the rest of the West, Ocasio-Cortez was already looking formidable in her party. And, almost as impressive as the crowds, was the implicit endorsement from two-time progressive presidential heartthrob, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Starting the summer with a member of the same Democratic Socialist movement in her own hometown stunning the Democratic establishment was another boost. Nor does it hurt that by Election Day 2028, she'll still only be 38 years old, the right age for a party that has revived its traditional affection for youth politics in the wake of an extraordinarily embarrassing episode with Biden and his eventual ouster from the 2024 race. She's also remade her image with party elites, going from the bomb-thrower of her first term to one who keeps her policies radical but learned to play an inside game in Washington. The way Ocasio-Cortez would win the Democratic nomination would not look so different from the way a New York radical on the other side, President Trump, succeeded with Republicans in 2016. And she is right now getting one of the essential ingredients in that recipe: a crowded field among the normies. That's inevitable in a party where so many believe that 2028 will be a very good year for Democrats. If Vice President Vance remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination; it won't be hard for members of the blue team to imagine how their party will win a change election based on turning the page from the Trump administration. That will entice lots of top-tier Democrats into the field. The implication of that knowledge is what has Gallego, Newsom and company stampeding to the (maybe) early primary states. If the Democrats are going to end up where they have in every open presidential contest since 2004 — a safer center-left pick fighting a left-wing favorite — the fight to be the surviving safe choice is already well underway. With good reason. The mainstream choice has won the party's nod every time, except for former President Obama's 2008 upset. What we will find out in the coming months is whether Ocasio-Cortez has any real competition to be the favorite of the far left. So far, she's swimming in her own lane. Holy croakano! We welcome your feedback, so please email us with your tips, corrections, reactions, amplifications, etc. at WHOLEHOGPOLITICS@ If you'd like to be considered for publication, please include your real name and hometown. If you don't want your comments to be made public, please specify. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Trump Job Performance Average Approval: 42 percent Average Disapproval: 53.2 percent Net Score: -11.2 Change from one week ago: No change Change from one month ago: +0.4 points [Average includes: Marist College 43 percent approve – 52 percent disapprove; Emerson College 45 percent approve – 46 percent disapprove; Quinnipiac University 41 percent approve – 54 percent disapprove Ipsos/Reuters 41 percent approve – 57percent disapprove; Gallup 40 percent approve – 57 percent disapprove] No consensus on school choice for religious institutions Do you favor tax-funded vouchers that help parents pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools of their choice instead of public schools? Favor: 35 percent Oppose: 38 percent Neither favor nor oppose: 25 percent [National Opinion Research Center survey of 1,158 adults, June 5-9] ON THE SIDE: CAN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO THE ORIGINAL Writer Iris Gottlieb explains the origin of the restaurant birthday song for Gravy: 'Twenty years ago, when I worked at Bennigan's, they kept it relatively simple, singing diners a bouncier rendition of the classic happy birthday song: 'Happy, happy birthday/It's your special day/Happy, happy birthday/That's all we're here to say (hey!) /Happy, happy birthday/May all your dreams come true/Happy, Happy birthday/From Bennigan's to you (hey!)' Restaurants often have their own version of the 'Happy Birthday Song,' because the classic song didn't enter the public domain until the 2010s. … In 1988, Warner Chappell Music purchased the rights and started making up to $2 million yearly on 'Happy Birthday to You.' … Companies regularly used alternate happy birthday songs to avoid paying licensing fees. Bennigan's added some pizazz with on-beat claps and a tambourine. And the rest is restaurant history.' PRIME CUTS In Virginia, GOP looks to run a Biden-era campaign: Semafor: 'On the stump, [Gov. Glenn Youngkin's] aspiring successors clearly see power in 'memory lane.' 'If you remember where we were in 2021 — yes, they were bad times,' said [Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears, her party's gubernatorial nominee]. 'COVID shut down our schools? No, COVID didn't do that. It was the governor who shut down our schools, shut down our businesses, shut down our houses of worship.' [Attorney General Jason Miyares], the only statewide official seeking reelection to his current job, denounced [Democratic challenger Jay] Jones' criminal justice reform advocacy, linking it to a sexual assault case that Republicans blamed on Loudoun County's inclusive gender policies. … He warned that all of the gains Republicans had made on public safety — often by letting the state move in to take cases 'woke' local prosecutors had dropped — could be lost.' The data on angry politics: The Liberal Patriot: 'This recent academic paper explored the psychological content of social media postings from heavy partisan users from 2013 to 2024 (on issues including abortion, democracy, gender equality, gun control, immigration, taxes and inequality, climate, and trade), finding one emotion standing out way above all the others: anger. The same pattern was found on the supply side when the researchers examined the emotional content of the tweets from official Republican Party and Democratic Party accounts from 2013 to 2024 and in speeches and public interactions made by Trump, Biden, and Harris from 2023 to 2024. 'Supply matches demand,' according to their findings. Anger dominated all other emotions in terms of social media messages from party officials and in many public statements from leaders, with hope emerging a bit more in the official output of Democrats last cycle.' SHORT ORDER Senate GOPers fear Musk's America Party could cost them majority by splitting populist voters — The Hill Independent Dan Osborn tries again for Nebraska Senate, this time targeting Ricketts — The Hill North Carolina Dems clearing the field for former Gov. Roy Cooper to seek Tillis seat – WRAL Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, wife of Senate candidate Ken Paxton, files for divorce after years of standing by her husband amid allegations of infidelity, corruption — KUT Burt Jones, Georgia's deep-pocketed lieutenant governor who helped Trump try to overturn 2020 results, launches campaign for state's top job — The Hill Ernst, top Iowa GOP leaders back Rep. Randy Feenstra for governor — KCCI Hogg's PAC faces first big test in Tuesday special election in Arizona — Politico TABLE TALK: LANGUAGE BARRIER 'And such good English, such beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?' — President Trump to Joseph Boaka, president of Liberia, the African nation founded by Americans, the official language of which is English You should email us! Write to WHOLEHOGPOLITICS@ with your tips, kudos, criticisms, insights, rediscovered words, wonderful names, recipes, and, always, good jokes. Please include your real name — at least first and last — and hometown. Make sure to let us know in the email if you want to keep your submission private. My colleague, the multitasking Meera Sehgal, and I will look for your emails and then share the most interesting ones and my responses here. Clickety clack! FOR DESSERT: RICKY BOBBY, OFFICIANT WSOC: 'A sign advertising a car show at a cemetery is raising eyebrows in Union County [North Carolina]. Families of loved ones buried at Forest Lawn East Cemetery say it's disrespectful to host an event at a place that's considered to be sacred ground. … [Nancy Hare, whose parents are buried there] says she was shocked owners started advertising a car show at the cemetery for August 16. The event was planned for a grassy area in a new part of the cemetery. 'We find it disrespectful that they are promoting it as 'family fun and horsepower and good vibes and food and prizes,'' Hare said. 'It's just not the venue for it.' Hare says other families shared their distaste with the event on social media. When [a reporter] brought those complaints to the managing partner of Forest Lawn East, he claimed he hadn't received any complaints. … Late Wednesday, Channel 9 learned that the Eventbrite listing for the event showed that the car show was now canceled.' Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation, the host of 'The Hill Sunday' on NewsNation and The CW, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of books on politics and the media. Meera Sehgal contributed to this report.
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego will make stop through Iowa amid early 2028 presidential buzz
U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego will make a stop through Iowa in August — a move that likely will generate presidential primary chatter for the Arizona Democrat as well as renewed buzz for Iowa, where some Democrats are eager to regain a foothold on the presidential nominating calendar. Gallego will attend the Iowa State Fair Aug. 8 — a quintessential presidential campaign stop — and then travel to the Quad Cities Aug. 9 where he'll attend a town hall in Scott County, his staff told the Des Moines Register. That event will be co-hosted by the Iowa Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. According to his staff, Gallego plans to speak directly to voters about the "disastrous budget bill" Republicans passed and President Donald Trump signed into law July 4. 'Like most Iowans, Ruben Gallego didn't grow up having things handed to him — he had to work hard and pay his dues," Gallego's chief of staff, Raphael Chavez-Fernandez, said in a statement. "That's why he's headed to the Hawkeye State to call out those who backed Trump's billionaire tax scam at the expense of Iowa's good, hard working people. Ruben's not afraid to say the quiet part out loud: that Iowa families are getting screwed, and Iowans deserve leaders who will fight for them every single day." Gallego defeated MAGA firebrand Kari Lake in 2024 to become Arizona's first Latino U.S. senator, and he is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party after winning a battleground state that Republican President Donald Trump also carried. That victory came in part by overperforming among Latino voters compared with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, a key constituency that Democrats struggled to court in 2024. Gallego is one of several national Democrats who appear to be positioning themselves for a potential White House bid in 2028. Without an incumbent on the ballot or an heir apparent waiting in the wings, the Democratic primary field is expected to be a wide open free-for-all. Gallego stoked speculation about his future ambitions by traveling to Pennsylvania, a key presidential battleground, in May. He held a town hall with local Democrats to help draw attention to Republicans who were not holding public meetings with their constituents. Gallego has also looked to raise his national profile on immigration-related issues, co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act in the Senate and releasing a campaign-style immigration plan. Other would-be presidential contenders are also making the rounds to other key states as the 2028 shadow primary begins to unfold. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said July 6 he is considering a possible 2028 run. And on July 8, California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a two-day tour of South Carolina, the state that led off the 2024 primary calendar for Democrats. Is Iowa back in the conversation as 2028 shadow primary unfolds? Gallego's trip to Iowa may help renew a conversation about whether Iowa belongs in the early state lineup as the 2028 presidential primary process gets underway. It follows a May appearance by former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who held his first public in-person appearance since leaving his cabinet post in January. He drew a standing-room-only crowd and a throng of national reporters. Although Iowa no longer officially leads off the presidential nominating calendar, Buttigieg's visit to Iowa still generated national media attention and lots of questions about his future plans. Buttigieg declined to weigh in when asked by reporters whether Iowa should reclaim its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. But he touted what the caucus experience did for his rise. 'People like me are takers and not makers of the rules on that,' he said. 'What I will say is that Iowa showed me what can happen through a process where you have to be in backyards and do four town halls a day. It made it possible for somebody like me to emerge as a national figure, and it certainly made me better, not just as a candidate, but I think ultimately, as a public servant, when I did have the opportunity to serve in the Capitol.' When Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart was reelected to another term as chair in January, she said she would hold listening sessions around the state to determine how the party's grassroots wanted to move forward with the caucuses. And when the Democratic National Committee removed longtime Rules and Bylaws Committee member Scott Brennan from the panel that sets the presidential nominating calendar, Brennan left the door open to holding a rogue event that goes against the DNC's official calendar in 2028. "I think that we are certainly not constrained in any way from doing what Iowa Democrats and our chair decide," he said at the time. Other Iowa Democrats have also suggested holding a first-in-the-nation nominating event, even if it goes against the DNC's wishes. Iowa House Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, said on a June 27 episode of Iowa Press that he will push for Iowa Democrats to reclaim their spot at the front of the presidential nominating calendar. "At the end of the day, we can get rid of the weird math that we do as Democrats and just adopt what the Republicans have done, which is more like a straw poll," Meyer said. "Just have a straw poll, and just move forward with this." Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at bpfann@ or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
The Hill
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Gallego making Iowa stop amid 2028 speculation
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is set to make a trip to Iowa next month as speculation about possible presidential ambitions stirs around the freshman senator. Gallego's political operation announced in a press release Wednesday that he will visit the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 8. A day later, Aug. 9, he will also hold a town hall with the Iowa Democratic Party and House Democrats' campaign arm to discuss the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's impact on Iowa families. The release states that he will also discuss how Iowa lawmakers like Sen. Joni Ernst (R) and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) 'turned their backs on Iowans to give billionaires yet another tax cut.' 'Ruben's visit to the state follows his commitment to go anywhere and talk to anyone about the impact the GOP's dangerous policies will have on American families,' it continues, noting his trip to Bucks County, Pa., and participation in a virtual town hall hosted by the Alaska Democratic Party. The Arizona Democrat's announcement comes after President Trump signed the massive spending and tax bill into law on Friday, marking the first major legislative accomplishment of his second term. The act includes a wide range of provisions, including an extension of the tax cuts that Trump first enacted in 2017, significantly more funding for immigration enforcement and cuts to Medicaid spending. Democrats have zeroed in particularly on the changes to Medicaid, with the law potentially pushing more than 12 million low-income individuals off their insurance over the next decade. The law requires beneficiaries of the program to prove they are working or in school for at least 80 hours per month and recipients living above the poverty line to pay out-of-pocket copays for most services. 'The new Republican budget law spells bad news for Iowans,' the release from Gallego states. 'The law will kick more than 100,000 Iowans off Medicaid and put hospitals and nursing homes at risk of closing. All the while, Iowans will see their energy costs go up all to fund tax breaks for billionaires.' Ernst particularly came under scrutiny for comments she made defending potential Medicaid cuts, in which she said 'we are all going to die' in response to concerns expressed at a town hall that the changes would cause people to die. Miller-Meeks came close to losing her House seat race last year and will be one of Democrats' top targets in 2026 as the party tries to flip the lower chamber of Congress. But Gallego's trip comes as he has been one of several Democrats rumored to be considering a 2028 presidential run. He outperformed former Vice President Harris to win his Senate seat in November despite the Democratic presidential nominee losing Arizona to Trump. The senator told NBC News earlier this year that the idea of running for president has occurred to him, but he's not currently focused on it.
The Hill
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Gallego to headline Alaska Democrats' emergency town hall, ramping up 2028 speculation
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is headlining an emergency virtual town hall hosted by the Alaska Democratic Party on Wednesday, ramping up speculation over potential 2028 ambitions. The virtual town hall, which also includes a handful of local Alaska lawmakers, is expected to touch on the negative implications to health care access from Republicans' massive tax and spending bill, which is currently being taken up again in the House, and 'the attacks to the Alaskan educational system that state Republicans have pushed during the most recent legislative session,' according to a press release. Gallego's participation in the event was first shared with The Hill. 'Donald Trump, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan sent a clear message to the American people today: Your kids, your job, and your elderly relatives don't matter. This is one of the worst bills in the history of Congress,' said Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin in a statement, ridiculing President Trump's megabill as a 'billionaire budget scam.' 'That's why the Alaska Dems are now convening an emergency town hall to let the people of Alaska know exactly how Murkowski and Sullivan sold them out,' Martin added. 'Billionaires don't need a break — working Alaska families do.' Gallego in his own statement rebuked both Alaska GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, saying they 'sold out Alaska–voting for billionaire tax cuts while gutting health care for kids' and warning that Alaskans would be negatively impacted by Republicans' major policy bill. 'People will die because of these cuts, thousands will lose coverage, and families will face impossible choices,' the Arizona Democrat continued. 'We can't let them get away with it, and that's why I'm fighting back — because Alaskans deserve better.' The town hall comes one day after Senate Republicans narrowly passed Trump's agenda-setting bill, which looks to extend the 2017 tax cuts in addition to other GOP priorities. One of Democrats' top concerns over the bill is the major cuts to Medicaid, with millions projected to lose their health insurance. It's not the first time Gallego has participated in a town hall outside of his state, In May, he was part of a town hall in Bucks County, Pa., which was hosted by the Pennsylvania GOP and county Republican Party. The first-term senator has also weighed in on several Senate races ahead of the 2026 midterms, backing Reps. Chris Pappas (D) in New Hampshire and Angie Craig (D) in Minnesota, fueling questions around Gallego's future political aspirations. He also acknowledged in an interview with NBC News earlier this year that he has thought about running for president, but noted he wasn't placing his focus there at the moment. The Arizona Democrat defeated Republican Kari Lake in November to replace former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) despite Democrats losing the state at the presidential level, one of several Senate Democrats who outperformed the top of the ticket last cycle.
