Meet Ruben
Ruben Gallego is the son of immigrants who was raised by a single mom on a secretary’s pay alongside his three sisters. Growing up, he worked whatever job he could find to help support his family— at a pizza joint, construction sites, and a meatpacking plant — before earning a spot at Harvard. Ruben deployed to Iraq in 2005 where his company saw some of the highest casualties of the war. A Marine combat veteran, Ruben was elected to the Arizona State House in 2010 and the U.S. House in 2014 where he has served as a voice for Arizona’s veterans, hardworking families, and seniors for over a decade. Ruben is married and lives in South Phoenix with his wife Sydney, son Michael and daughter Isla.
Early years
He can trace his drive to succeed to the first night he slept on the floor in the apartment his mother got for him and his sisters after his father left. Lying there, he remembers thinking “my life sucked and I am not going to stand for that.”
Growing up poor, he took advantage of the things Democrats championed and the people of our country provided: Pell Grants and school lunch programs to name two. Those helping hands gave him (and people like him) a debt of gratitude he worked to pay back through service — first in the Marines, and now in Congress.
College
After high school, Ruben Gallego went to Harvard where he cleaned other students’ bathrooms, worked at a meat packing plant and was a reservist during college to afford school. He later used his money saved while fighting in Iraq to pay off the $15,000 he had left in debt.
Military Service
Ruben deployed to Iraq as a United States Marine Infantryman in 2005 where his company saw some of the hardest fighting and the heaviest casualties of the Iraq War, losing 22 Marines and a Navy Corpsman in eight months.
Ruben wrote a book about his time overseas titled They Called Us “Lucky” — a story about his time in Iraq and the people he served with from blue-collar towns, immigrant households and the Navajo Nation. It also detailed how he has dealt with PTSD since coming back from Iraq.
Public Service
Ruben’s military service motivated him to seek public office, where he has worked tirelessly to ensure that members of the military are never again sent into harm’s way without a plan for winning the fight and caring for those service members when they return home.
Ruben got his start in politics working on ballot initiatives in Phoenix and went on to serve as a Chief of Staff for a member of the Phoenix City Council and Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. He was elected to the Arizona State House in 2010 and to the United States House of Representatives in 2014.
Meet Ruben
Ruben Gallego is the son of immigrants from Colombia and Mexico. Along with his three sisters, he was raised by a single mother in a small apartment on a secretary's salary and slept on the family’s living room floor, finally getting his own bed when he went away to college.
Growing up poor, he took any job he could find — working at a pizza joint, construction sites, and a meat-packing plant — to help support his family. He earned a spot at Harvard University, where he again worked numerous odd jobs to pay his way through school.
Ruben enlisted in the Marine Corps and deployed as an infantryman to Iraq, where his company saw some of the heaviest casualties of the war. After returning home, Ruben’s military service motivated him to seek public office and ensure that members of the military are never again sent into harm’s way without a plan for winning the fight and caring for those who serve when they return home.
In Congress, Ruben has fought tirelessly for hardworking Arizona families, working to cut costs, support small businesses, and take care of our veterans. Because of his experience growing up paycheck to paycheck, he understands the unyielding squeeze too many Arizonans are feeling. That’s why he’s working to cut costs on everything from gas and groceries, to rent and health care costs. He has distinguished himself as a leading voice on national security issues as the highest-ranking Latino on the Armed Services Committee. Ruben lives in South Phoenix with his wife Sydney, son Michael, and young daughter Isla.
Members of the Senate are responsible for introducing and voting on federal legislation, representing their state, and providing a check on executive power. Key powers include confirming presidential appointments, ratifying treaties, serving on committees, shaping the federal budget, and conducting impeachment trials. Each senator serves a six-year term and represents their entire state.