As we get closer to the election, now just over a week away, there are plenty of downballot races worth looking at, including those involving state legislatures in key swing states and districts. Many Democrats running for these races, however, especially in Arizona, look to have quite the troubling family situations.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is running against Republican Kari Lake to replace retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Earlier this month, the Washington Free Beacon released a report detailing how Gallego had filed for divorce on December 15, 2016 just as his wife was about to give birth to their son. The Gallegos also sought to keep the records sealed.
As the report mentioned:
It was Ruben Gallego who moved to seal the record back in 2016. In his memorandum making the case to the court, he noted that Kate Gallego had "not yet been served" with divorce papers, nor had "her attorney entered an appearance" in the case, but that she was "likely to give birth any day."
Gallego’s petition for divorce stipulated that the "parties’ marriage is irretrievably broken" and that "there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation." But Kate Gallego appears to have been blindsided by her husband’s decision. When she responded to her husband’s filing in February of 2017, she said she was "without knowledge of information sufficient to form a belief" about her husband’s claim that the marriage was broken beyond repair—and she denied the allegation.
The newly unsealed file also shows that Gallego wanted his wife to foot the bill for the divorce proceedings, stipulating that he was "entitled to an award of attorney’s fees" pursuant to an Arizona statute allowing a court to award attorney’s fees based on several factors.
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Though divorce records are public in Arizona, Gallego argued that this case should be treated differently because "each party is a high profile public official" and the "case will likely receive intense scrutiny from the media."
The divorce was finalized in April 2017, with both parties stipulating that "there was no domestic violence in the marriage" or that "significant domestic violence did not occur."
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Throughout the legal proceedings this year, the Gallegos maintained they were pressing to keep the records sealed in order to protect their young son. The partially unredacted file released on Thursday contains no personal information about the child.
In his race against Lake, Gallego has a slight edge from forecasters, though Arizona is also a critical swing state for the top of the ticket as well. Former and potentially future President Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris in all seven swing states, with Arizona being one of his best states. RealClearPolling currently shows him leading by +1.5 there against Harris.
If Trump wins Arizona, Lake may thus perhaps benefit from his coattails.
Many vulnerable Democrats have kept their distance from Harris, especially as her campaign looks to be increasingly in trouble. While many fellow Democrats skipped the DNC in August, Gallego attended and even had a primetime speaking slot.
When it comes to more local races, "deadbeat dad" Nicholas Gonzales is running for the Arizona House of Representatives for District 13. Also earlier this month, azcentral.com reported that Gonzales had been convicted of false reporting and was further involved in part of a messy custody battle with the mother of his child.
As the report mentioned:
A Democratic candidate for the state Legislature in a key swing district called police in 2021 to report his son was missing during a planned custody swap — but it wasn't true.
Court records show the bogus call by Nicholas Gonzales of Chandler was part of a pattern of bullying and inappropriate behavior during a decade-long battle with his ex-partner over the parenting of their son. He was later convicted in Gilbert Municipal Court of false reporting to law enforcement, a class 1 misdemeanor. His sentence was suspended.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge upheld the misdemeanor conviction in a May 2023 appeal. Gonzales successfully applied to have the conviction set aside this year but the designation doesn't erase the case from the record.
With Gonzales' race crucial to Democrats' plans of flipping the Legislature blue this year, his turbulent private life has now gone public. Republicans have seized on the case and other court documents from Gonzales' 12-year custody battle with his ex-partner, Kurstie Ortiz, labeling him a "deadbeat dad" in recent campaign mailings.
Did Gonzales own up to it, though? Not quite. It always looks to be somebody else's fault. Further, he still owes child support as well [Emphasis added]:
Gonzales released a statement that didn’t address the allegations and instead blamed the Republican Party for bringing them out.
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Court records show Gonzales previously owed thousands in unpaid child support. He has paid off part of the debt, but it was unclear how much. In a 2021 court order over the debt and other parenting disputes, a judge ordered him to pay $12,000 plus interest in attorneys' fees to Ortiz.
The amount was still not paid, Ortiz's attorney, Dorian Eden, said Oct. 11.
Ortiz declined to comment on most elements of this article.
The lengthy court record also includes examples of expletive-ridden texts toward Ortiz.
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The state Democratic Party declined to comment when asked what its officials knew of Gonzales’ background before he began running for office. But the party shared a statement from Gonzales:
“When I became a father at 18 years old, I made a promise to my child that I would be a present and active part of his life,” he wrote. “Though my relationship with his mother ultimately ended, I remained committed to being a part of his life and upbringing. I have always been transparent about the challenges I faced as a young parent and while navigating the family court system was at times frustrating, I am proud of the progress made and that his mother and I are amicably co-parenting. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of our child, which includes raising him in a healthy and respectful environment.
"I am saddened that this difficult period of my family’s life is being used in an attempt to discredit my campaign but these tactics are typical from the Republican Party, which holds no standards or boundaries. I am proud of the father and man I am today and know that voters will see through this clear attempt to undermine my ability to lead in office.”
Gonzales has also lied about the relationship with the mother of his child when it comes to co-parenting:
Though Ortiz declined to comment generally for the article, she did request publication of her response to the part of Gonzales' statement that the two of them are now "amicably co-parenting."
"Unfortunately," Ortiz said. "That's not true."
How important is Gonzales' race? The headline and the article note it's a "swing House seat." That may be putting it mildly. Republicans currently control both chambers of the state legislature, though narrowly, while the governor, Katie Hobbs, is a Democrat who won in 2022 when she defeated Lake. This state House race could thus potentially flip control of the chamber.
Speaking of Hobbs, the article mentioned that she had campaigned with Gonzales on October 13, a few days before publication, and she reportedly did not know of Gonzales' record.
However, even after the report came out, a subsequent piece from azcentral.com featured the headline "Gov. Katie Hobbs won’t comment on Chandler House candidate convicted of false reporting."
The seat is described as one that "leans slightly Republican," and surely such a piece on Gonzales can't be good news for the race.