Just how far will Ruben Gallego go to make Arizonans believe he is a consensus-building centrist Democrat and not the progressive firebreather he’s been in Congress.

Pretty far.

He dropped out of the congressional progressive caucus.

He distanced himself from Joe Biden.

He appears in online campaign ad that makes him look like a NASCAR gearhead at the starting line (Democrats will be relieved to find on closer examination he’s actually at a long-distance run, not a carbon-burning auto race).

I was almost ready to go along with NASCAR Ruben Gallego when he finally zipped past me so fast, so far that he actually gave me whiplash.

How much has Ruben Gallego changed?

This much:

He now wants Kyrsten Sinema’s endorsement.

GET OUTTA HERE!

No. Really. It’s true.

Would Kyrsten Sinema endorse Ruben Gallego?

Gallego told the Washington Post he would “love to have” Sinema’s endorsement, noting she’s “very well-liked” among her fellow independents.

Some things are semi-sort-of plausible, like race-car Ruben.

But not this. Not Sinema and Gallego locking hands for the general.

Yes, I know it’s not uncommon for the losing candidate in a primary election (which is essentially what Sinema was) to rally behind the winner in the general.

But that doesn’t work here.

The only reason Gallego is the Democrats’ U.S. Senate candidate is because he looked its liberal base in the eye and swore he would never be Sinema.

Then he proved to them his worthiness by smearing her.

“She’s alienated everybody ‘cause nobody trusts her in Arizona,” Gallego told Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast in a January 2023 Q&A.

He called Sinema a servant to drug industry

She’s in the pocket of Big Pharma, he said. “They have a lot of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. They don’t need one more that’s paid by tax dollars.”

When Jong-Fast said to him, “(Sinema) basically is a Republican,” Gallego responded, “I don’t know. I think at least Republicans have some, you know, moral values that they’ll stick to.”

Not surprisingly, Sinema is cool to Gallego’s centrist makeover. And who would blame her?

In 2022, Gallego told Politico, “She’s all about herself.

“I would love to be on the stump with her helping Democrats win, but she’s not going to do it. Because I’m a good Democrat, I want us to win. I think we have the values that are going to make Arizona better. I don’t think she’s going to do it with me because I mean, honestly, I think she cares more about her career than she cares about what we can do with our elected office.”

Now, Gallego wants the woman who is worse than Republicans to back his campaign.

I’m guessing Kyrsten Sinema is presently rummaging through her armoire looking for her special little ring.

Some R’s and independents eye Gallego

In its story on the Gallego makeover, the Washington Post interviewed non-Democratic Arizona voters who are leaning Gallego.

Gallego knows that Kari Lake is such damaged goods that many independents and Republicans will be tempted to vote for him.

But his all-too-slick makeover only reminds that it was just last year that the far-left Nation magazine was exulting that Gallego is “a progressive who frequently takes bolder stands than his party’s leadership.”

If you are one of those Republicans and independents who can’t think of any good reason to vote for Kari Lake, think of this.

Lest they do, keep this in mind about the far-left

If NASCAR Ruben is all a ruse and he gets in the Senate and continues voting the far-left Democratic line, here’s what progressive Democrats want to do:

• Abolish the legislative filibuster.

• Make D.C. and Puerto Rico states, adding presumably four more Democrats to the Senate and cementing one-party control of that body for perhaps a generation.

• Pack the Supreme Court with four new justices, giving Democrats control of the judiciary.

• Make significant changes to election law with all progressive Democrat reforms.

• End the use of fossil fuels.

• Spend like there is no tomorrow.

Those may not be good reasons to vote for Kari Lake, who lied repeatedly about elections and denied their results, but they could be good reasons to vote against Ruben Gallego.

For those centrists Republicans put off by Lake, consider what Gallego once said about you before he went NASCAR.

“If you are a Republican, you have to have a bunch of guns, a jacked-up truck with some cow nuts hanging in the back. That’s your cultural identity now.”

Once you do, you might want to ask Sinema where she bought her special ring.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ruben Gallego has gone overboard in pretend makeover as a centrist