As the Arizona Senate elections get closer by the day, the campaign is entering the judicial terrain as a court ruled that the divorce proceedings of the Democratic contender, Rep. Ruben Gallego, must be unsealed.
Concretely, the Arizona Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision to make public the documents related to the 2017 proceeding between Gallego and his former wife Kate, who is the mayor of Phoenix.
Gallego has resorted to the state Supreme Court, a last-ditch attempt to keep the documents sealed. His Republican contender in the elections, Kari Lake, is seizing the opportunity to criticize her opponent, saying he has spent "nearly $1m so you can't see why he served his 1st wife divorce papers at Christimas-time when she was 9 months pregnant." "Arizona deserves to know what he's hiding," she added in an X publication.
.@RubenGallego is begging the State Supreme Court to keep his divorce records sealed—spending nearly $1m so you can’t see why he served his 1st wife divorce papers at Christmas-time when she was 9 months pregnant
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 16, 2024
Arizona deserves to know what he’s hidinghttps://t.co/V7mwml3Gg2 pic.twitter.com/gpUBJKRHm6
Gallego, on his end, said Lake has to do with the legal ordeal. In a statement published along Kate, he said: "Kari Lake will stop at nothing to score cheap political points—even if it means endangering the privacy and well-being of our young son. We have long put our child before all else and will continue to do so. It is shameful that Lake, her allies, and those who amplify her cruelty refuse to respect two people who are just trying to raise a beautiful boy together."
An adviser to Lake, however, said the campaign had "nothing to do with this lawsuit." Conservative outlet The Washington Free Beacon has been fighting to have the records unsealed, something that will happen on October 17 unless the state Supreme Court intervenes.
It is not the first time Lake makes reference to Gallego's personal life to claim his character is flawed and he's not fit to be the next Arizona senator. Earlier this month the Democrat got emotional after acknowledging that his father is a convicted drug dealer, a revelation he made after Lake sought to tie him with drug cartels.
Speaking to press at an event with mayors who support his candidacy, Gallego said: "She's raising it because my father, who abandoned my family, is a convicted drug dealer. and it's a stain my family has had to carry. and this is why my mom, my sisters and myself have worked our entire lives to live the American dream and to serve and honor the country despite what he has done."
"But this is who Kari Lake is. She attacks families when she's losing. Because she is, she is a pathetic loser. We've seen what happened with the McCain family. We've seen it happen with other families here," Gallego added. He went on to criticize the fact that "all it takes is craven politicians like Kari Lake to drag us all down" despite doing "everything right."
"How many kids in this country want to do better? Want to live the American dream, want to do better than their abusive father. But we'll be reminded time and time again that the sins of the father have to be carried on by their children. That's not the American way," he concluded.
Gallego continues to be ahead in all polls less than three weeks from the elections. The latest one, sponsored by the Republican-linked Trafalgar Group and conducted between October 10 and 13 among 1,090 likely voters, shows Gallego leading Lake by 4 points, a much narrower gap than previous surveys: he gets 48% of the support to Lake's 44%. A previous poll by The New York Times/Siena College, completed on October 10, had Gallego ahead by 9 points.
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