After it was confirmed that Donald Trump had beaten Kamala Harris to become the 47th President of the United States, all eyes were turned to Arizona on Wednesday, where Democrat Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake are locked in a Senate race. Ruben Gallego is an Iraq War veteran while television news anchor-turned Republican Kari Lake is a staunch Trump supporter.
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According to the latest reports by the US media, Democrats are likely to hold the Senate seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. An ex-Democrat, Sinema had switched to become an independent. Gallego was leading 50.4% of the vote to Lake's to 47.7% when 60% of the vote counted. However, some reports said that his lead was getting decreased as the counting progressed.
Gallego was ahead in early returns, which included a combination of mail ballots received and counted before Election Day and those cast in person on Tuesday, the Associate Press report added.
Kari Lake vs Ruben Gallego: Why Arizona matters?
According to the Associated Press, Arizona was reliably Republican until 2016. However, anti-Trump feelings powered Democrats to emerge from the ashes and Arizona voters have rejected Trump and his favoured candidates in every statewide election since then.
Who is Ruben Gallego?
The son of immigrants from Mexico and Colombia, Gallego was raised in Chicago by a single mother and eventually accepted to Harvard University. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and fought in Iraq in 2005 in a unit that sustained heavy casualties, including the death of his best friend. If elected, he would be the first Latino U.S. senator from Arizona.
Gallego attacked Kari Lake’s support for a state law dating to the Civil War that outlawed abortions under nearly all circumstances. Later, when Lake moved to the middle on the issue, some of her allies were offended and felt betrayed.
Lake, on the other hand, became dear to Trump due to her dogmatic commitment to the false claim that elections were "stolen" from Trump. According to reports, she was even considered among candidates likely to become Trump's vice presidential running mate. But she had lost the support of moderate Republicans, which cost her the chance.
Republicans hopeful of turnaround in Arizona
"Arizona is taking too long. I think no way Kari Lake loses if Trump wins. Trump needs to investigate and this time if there is fraud let’s see some consequences," a user wrote on X.
"Hang in there, demand recount if you don't win..." another replied to one of her recent X posts.
"Arizona is red. Wait for the final vote count. They have not counted votes from Monday or Tuesday," a third jotted optimistically.
