Gallego outraising Arizona opponents for Senate in recent campaign filings

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Arizona could once again be one of the most important senate races on the line in next year’s election. Publically, this high-stakes contest has been pretty quiet so far. Behind the scenes, the candidates are busy fundraising and laying campaign foundations.

Just like last year, the eyes of the country will be on Arizona next November. Not only could voters here determine the White House in 2024, but also the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego announced his run for senate in January. Three months later, the Republican sheriff of Pinal County, Mark Lamb, followed. Since then, no other major candidates have jumped into the race, including the woman who currently holds the seat, Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

Arizona’s senior senator still hasn’t revealed if she plans to seek a second term. Still, she and the other declared senate candidates filed their latest round of campaign finance reports. Those reports reveal Gallego outraised everyone, pulling in about $3.1 million to Sinema’s $1.7 million. Sheriff Lamb came in a distant third at $600,000 raised over the past 3 months.

Democratic consultant Adam Kinsey says, “the big takeaway is that for the second quarter in a row, Ruben Gallego has outraised an incumbent U.S. Senator in Kyrsten Sinema, and he did so 2 to 1.” Kinsey adds that Gallego outraised the only Republican in the field by 5 to 1.

As for the incumbent, Sinema’s team released a statement that said in part that “she remains focused on solving challenges facing everyday Arizonans, not campaign politics.”

“The question has always been, is she going to run? Is she not going to run?” Kinsey says. “I think the senator is very smart, and she understands how difficult it is, and I think she probably looks at fundraising reports like this, and it may impact her decision. But we just don’t know.”

While the political world waits on Sinema to make up her mind, there’s another high-profile name that could also shake up the race. The 2022 Republican nominee for Arizona governor, Kari Lake. One recent report suggests she’s going to wait until the fall to announce her decision.

Sinema still leads with the amount of cash she currently has available, about $10.7 million in the coffers, to Gallgo’s $3.8 million.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.