On Monday, October 14, the former Columbus Day holiday renamed Indigenous Peoples' Day, Ruben Gallego, 44, Democratic candidate for Senate, put on his hiking boots before dawn and hit the road to meet voters. The road, or rather the trail, winds along the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, the grandiose geological formation carved out by the Colorado River in Arizona.
The goal was to reach the village of Supai, a good four hours' walk, 13 kilometers away. This is the home of the Havasupai tribe, isolated from the rest of the world, whose name translates as "people of blue-green water," in reference to their translucent waterfalls. It was, of course, a campaign event – the candidate, his team and a procession of journalists returned in a helicopter – and Gallego was feted by the Havasupai people. On behalf of 160 voters, tribal council member Juanita Wescogame told him about the uranium mine operating on the tribe's doorstep. The tribe fears that their water will be contaminated.
Gallego, elected to the House of Representatives in 2015, was completing a campaign promise: to visit all of Arizona's indigenous tribes. There are 22 of them, from the Navajos in the north, who own the country's largest reservation, to the Apaches in the east, engaged in a fierce struggle against copper mines in Oak Flat, to the Gila River Indians around Phoenix, rich thanks to their casinos and ancestral water rights, or the Tohono O'odham, on the Mexican border, who led the fight against Trump's wall.
It all paid off. One week after the November 5 vote, Gallego was declared the winner of the Arizona Senate on Monday, November 11, the last race still in doubt in the competition for control of the upper house. After this result, the Republicans hold 53 seats and the Democrats 47. Although the polls had him in the lead – sometimes by as much as 5 points – Gallego only beat his rival Kari Lake by some 73,000 votes (out of more than 3 million). But he did better than Kamala Harris, who lost the state, albeit by less than 11,000 votes, that Joe Biden won in 2020.
Gallego was running for the seat held by Kyrsten Sinema, a former environmentalist turned Democrat, elected in 2018 to replace John McCain, the Republican candidate for the White House in 2008. In the Senate, she had irritated the Democratic base by repeatedly playing into the Republicans' hands. Disavowed by the party, she renounced her independent candidacy in March.
You have 47.11% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.