Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) says he is "honored" to have the endorsement of a left-wing group that wants to defund police departments and a federal immigration agency.
The Indivisible Project, which calls itself one of the nation’s largest progressive grassroots groups, endorsed Gallego on Wednesday, its second endorsement in a 2024 Senate race. Gallego said Indivisible "plays a crucial role" in mobilizing voters "around the issues that matter most." He praised their work on the issue of abortion access and "defending our democracy," and said he was "honored" to have their support.
Gallego touts the endorsement as crime and immigration are shaping up to be trouble spots for Democrats in swing states across the country. According to a recent Morning Consult poll, 51 percent of Arizona voters trust Donald Trump on immigration, compared with just 31 percent who say the same about President Joe Biden. Respondents said immigration was their second biggest concern, thanks in large part to a historic surge of illegal aliens at the border.
Indivisible, which has received more than $4.6 million in funding from the liberal billionaire George Soros, has said it is "critical to defund police" and urged its members to "call your local officials and tell them to defund your local police department." Indivisible has called for an end to deportations of illegal aliens and urged the Biden administration to "overhaul and defund" U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Just 18 percent of Americans supported defunding police departments in 2021, according to a USA Today/IPSOS poll.
Gallego has stopped short of calling to defund police, but he has been highly critical of law enforcement agencies following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. In June 2020, he attended a rally outside the Phoenix police department in which protesters carried "Defund the Police" signs, and others that read "ACAB," short for "All Cops are Bastards." He asserted that police officers were not qualified to use certain weapons because they "never served in the military." Gallego’s campaign has hired staffers and consultants with histories of anti-police rhetoric, Fox News reported.
Gallego’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.