Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona thinks Democrats worry too much

PHOENIX — Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona thinks Democrats’ concerns about President Joe Biden’s reelection chances are the result of his party’s tendency to worry too much.

“One of the things that just drives me nuts about Democrats — and it doesn’t matter if we’re up by 80 points or we’re up by 5 points — that’s all they ever do is worry, worry, worry and come up with different scenarios of why they’re going to lose,” Gallego told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Tuesday.

The Phoenix Democrat doesn’t always agree with Biden, specifically on border policy, but he says the president’s accomplishments are noteworthy.

“He has done very well in terms of pushing a Democratic agenda. First president ever to really take a whack to the pharmaceutical companies. Seniors are now going to pay less for their prescription drugs; that’s never been done before,” Gallego said.

“We have the largest growth in our industrial base that’s … happened in the last 50 years. Specifically, if you look at Arizona being the leading chipmaker, potentially of the world, this all happened under his administration.”

Biden drew criticism for a press conference in Vietnam on Sunday, when a staffer appeared to cut him off at the end. Gallego, however, thinks the focus should be on the strategic partnership Biden forged with Vietnam.

“To be able to do that and really change a lot of our Indo-Pacific policy when it comes to defending that region against China’s influence, I think it’s a big, big deal and I think that’s something that’s going to have some really positive ramifications when it comes to our security agreements in that area,” said Gallego, who is running for independent Kyrsten Sinema’s Senate seat in 2024.

Gallego thinks Democrats would be fretting about the president leading up to an election regardless of who was in office.

“It could be this president, could be any president; it always happens,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we buckle down, put our head down and just keep going, and we will win this,” he said.

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