Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego urged his party to go back to being the "big tent" party in order to increase its chances of winning future elections, criticizing attitudes that he says alienated many potential supporters.
Speaking at a town hall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Gallego said that "what happened in the last election is that we got so pure, and we kept so pure that we started kicking people out of the tent." "It ends up there aren't enough people in the tent to win elections."
Gallego went on to explain why, in his view, he managed to outperform the presidential election and beat Republican Kari Lake to become the state's senator. "I represent a state that has 330,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats," Gallego said.
"You have to get a lot of votes, and that means we're going to have to have alliances with people that we may not agree with 100% of the time, right?" he added.
Gallego's decision to go to Pennsylvania raised speculation about whether he is considering a presidential run in 2028. CBS News recalled that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are traveling the country and talking to voters as well.
Gallego rejected the possibility at the moment. "Of course, I've thought of it, but I'm also, you know, about to... have my third kid coming June 12, and I don't want to get divorced, and I just became a US senator," he told the outlet. "I love my job, and I need to make sure I do both jobs well. That's not what I'm thinking about right now."
The senator did say that even if it's not him, it will likely take a moderate to win next election. "I think it's going to take someone that really understands what's going on. People were hurting in the last election. I think the Democrats messed up by not really focusing on that," Gallego said.
"People don't vote for a party, right? It's us that run as Democrats. We need to be the face of the party, and we need to be out there. The problem is that we are too effing safe all the time," he added.
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