Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Ruben Gallego is setting off to a key battleground state to speak with voters this week, a sign the Arizona senator may have higher ambitions as some Democrats float him as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
Gallego will headline a May 10 town hall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a pivotal bellwether that President Donald Trump flipped in 2024, according to plans shared first with POLITICO.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one understands the struggles of working-class Americans like Ruben Gallego,\u201d said Gallego\u2019s chief of staff, Raphael Chavez-Fernandez. \u201cHe\u2019s heading to Pennsylvania to speak directly to voters about what it means to fight for working-class families \u2014 because he\u2019s lived their fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallego is visiting the district held by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a perennial Democratic target, as part of an effort by the party to spotlight vulnerable Republicans over possible cuts to Medicaid<\/a> and to pressure them to vote against Trump\u2019s budget bill.<\/p>\n Gallego is the latest in a string of potential Democratic presidential candidates to hit the road in what is transforming into an all-out shadow primary years ahead of 2028. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is traveling to hold a town hall with a veterans group in Iowa this month<\/a>, following his success in the presidential caucuses there in 2020<\/a>. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headed to the early primary state of South Carolina<\/a> to appear at a top Democratic dinner. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently visited New Hampshire<\/a>, another early primary state, to keynote a dinner.<\/p>\n Gallego is a rising star in the Democratic Party who won a state in 2024 that Trump carried in part by overperforming among Latino voters compared to former Vice President Kamala Harris. He previously told POLITICO<\/a> that one reason for his victory is that \u201cwe rejected what people had assumed the Democratic position had been, which is a very loose, loose enforcement of the border.\u201d<\/p>\n Gallego\u2019s allies have also argued his success stems from his ability to talk about his humble beginnings at a time when Democrats are struggling to win over working-class voters. Gallego grew up poor with a single mother, eventually making it to Harvard, where he worked part-time as a janitor, and enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Iraq War.<\/p>\n In a statement, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called Gallego \u201ca critical voice for the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n