U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has announced that he will be stepping down from his leadership role with the BOLD Political Action Committee (PAC), WNCT9 reports.
BOLD PAC is the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). Its stated purpose is "increasing the diversity of our leadership in the House and Senate."
Gallego has been BOLD PAC's chair. He, in fact, was just recently reelected to a second stint as the group's chair.
Gallego's re-election, according to WNCT9, followed "a strong midterm showing that brought in nine new CHC members, a record, while defending all incumbents up for reelection."
Gallego, however, is now stepping away from this leadership role. And, it appears that his decision to do so is related to his senatorial bid.
On Monday, Gallego announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate. He is going to run for the seat that is currently occupied by U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
Experts believe that Sinema's seat is vulnerable, especially since her decision to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent politician. Accordingly, many politicians have set their sights on Sinema's seat, including Gallego.
Gallego announced his candidacy on Twitter, writing:
Growing up poor, all I had was the American dream. It kept me going: as a kid sleeping on the floor, a student scrubbing toilets, a Marine losing brothers in Iraq. Today, too many Arizonans see their dream slipping away. I’m running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you!
Gallego has already begun his attack on Sinema. In a recent interview, he said, "I’m better for this job than Kyrsten Sinema because I haven’t forgotten where I came from."
"I think she clearly has forgotten where she came from," he added. "Instead of meeting with the people that need help, she meets with the people that are already powerful."
Gallego has indicated that he is stepping down from his leadership role with BOLD in order to concentrate on his senate run.
He explained:
I don’t want to put at risk a lot of the successes we’ve had at Bold PAC. And, while I’m going to start doing a little less here, I’m still going to be involved. But then I also have a baby girl coming soon too, which is also going to take up some of my attention.
Gallego added that "being able to leave with the highest amount of Latino Democrats ever in Congress is something that I can be very proud of."
Gallego is scheduled to officially step down from his BOLD leadership role at the end of the quarter.