Rep. Ruben Gallego
Representative for Arizona’s 3rd District
pronounced ROO-bun // gah-YEH-goh
Gallego is the representative for Arizona’s 3rd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2023. Gallego is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 43 years old.
He was previously the representative for Arizona’s 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 2015 to 2022.
![Photo of Rep. Ruben Gallego [D-AZ3]](/static/legislator-photos/412612-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Gallego proposed $31 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $4 million to City of Tucson for “South 10th Avenue Affordable and Mixed-Income Housing Development – Pre-Development Infrastructure Project”
- $4 million to Area Agency on Aging, Region One, Incorporated for “The Justa Center Building Construction”
- $2.7 million to Town of Guadalupe for “Roadway and Pedestrian Safety Improvements”
View all requests and justifications on Gallego’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Gallego.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Gallego is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Gallego has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 26, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Ruben Gallego sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Armed Services
- Intelligence and Special Operations subcommittee Ranking Member
Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittees - House Committee on Natural Resources
Enacted Legislation
Gallego was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 7326 (117th): PAVA Inclusion Act
- H.R. 6535 (116th): To deem an urban Indian organization and employees thereof to be a part of the Public Health Service for the purposes of certain claims for personal injury, …
- H.R. 6237 (116th): PRC for Native Veterans Act
- H.R. 4010 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 522 North Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, as the “Ed Pastor Post Office”.
Does 4 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Gallego sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Native Americans (28%) Education (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (15%) Immigration (8%) Health (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%) Government Operations and Politics (6%) Commerce (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Gallego recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 5478: Teacher Diversity and Retention Act
- H.R. 5325: Domestic Water Protection Act of 2023
- H.R. 4115: Lower Drug Costs for Families Act
- H.R. 3965: Extreme Heat Emergency Act of 2023
- H.R. 3853: Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2023
- H.R. 3637: DROP Act
- H.R. 3489: Restore Veterans’ Compensation Act of 2023
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Sep 2023, Gallego missed 196 of 4,942 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is much worse than the median of 1.8% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
