- Mark Kelly (D, Class 3) won a full 6-year term in 2022, defeating Blake Masters by 5.4 points. His seat is up for re-election in 2028, not 2026.
- Ruben Gallego (D, Class 1) won the other Arizona Senate seat in 2024, defeating Kari Lake by 5.4 points while Trump carried the state by 5.5. His term runs to 2030.
- Arizona is one of just a handful of states where Democrats hold both Senate seats despite the state voting Republican for president in 2024 — a product of exceptional candidate quality on both sides.
- The next Arizona Senate election: Kelly’s seat in 2028; Gallego’s seat in 2030.
Arizona’s Senate Delegation in 2026
Mark Kelly (D)
Former NASA astronaut and Navy combat pilot. Won a special election in 2020 and a full 6-year term in 2022 by 5.4 points over Trump-backed Blake Masters. Political brand built on military service, bipartisan problem-solving, and consistent breaks from national Democrats on immigration and border security. Has outperformed the national Democratic brand in Arizona by 5–8 points in every election. His 2028 race in a state with a shifting economic and political environment will be closely watched.
Ruben Gallego (D)
Marine combat veteran and former Phoenix city councilman. Won Arizona’s open Senate seat in 2024 by defeating Kari Lake 51.7% to 46.3% — an 11-point ticket-split from Trump’s presidential margin in the same state, on the same day. Gallego ran a disciplined campaign focused on Arizona-specific issues, immigration, and Lake’s repeated election denialism. His win secured both Arizona Senate seats for Democrats for the rest of the decade under normal circumstances.
The 2024 Arizona Ticket-Split: What It Means
The 2024 Arizona Senate result was one of the most dramatic ticket-splits in American electoral history. On the same day Donald Trump carried Arizona by 5.5 points — a state he lost by 0.3 in 2020 — Democrat Ruben Gallego defeated Republican Kari Lake by 5.4 points. That represents an approximately 11-point gap between presidential and Senate voting behavior in a single state, a single election cycle.
Several structural factors explain this split. Lake had lost two consecutive statewide races (governor 2022, Senate 2024) and was burdened by persistent election-denial rhetoric that alienated the suburban Maricopa County voters who decide statewide outcomes in Arizona. Gallego ran as a military veteran who broke from national Democratic positions on immigration and border security, peeling off enough crossover Republican voters to overcome the presidential-level partisan shift. Arizona’s large independent voter registration — more Arizonans are registered independent than as Democrats — creates structural space for ticket-splitting that most states do not have.
The broader lesson for 2026 is about candidate quality: in Arizona, national partisan environment explains maybe half the variance in Senate outcomes. The other half is candidate-specific. This pattern holds for both Mark Kelly’s 2022 win and Gallego’s 2024 win, and it will matter again when Kelly’s seat comes up in 2028. With Trump approval at 38.1% nationally and a D+6.0 generic ballot, the environment favors Democrats — but Arizona’s Senate outcomes consistently reflect more than just national trends.
Video: Mark Kelly Wins Re-Election — 2022 Victory Speech
NBC News: Mark Kelly victory speech after defeating Blake Masters in November 2022 by 5.4 points.
2026 Senate Race Context & National Outlook
The 2026 midterm elections are taking place in an environment shaped by significant economic uncertainty. Trump's Liberation Day tariffs triggered a consumer confidence collapse and PCE inflation surged to 4.5% in Q1 2026. The Trump approval rating stands at 38.1% approve / 59.2% disapprove — among the lowest for any first-year president since modern polling began. The Generic Ballot shows Democrats with a consistent +6.0 advantage, a historically predictive indicator of significant House seat gains.
In the Senate, 33 Class 2 seats are up in 2026. Republicans must defend seats in Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Alaska, and Texas, while Democrats defend Nevada, New Hampshire, Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia. Key battleground races that will determine Senate control include Georgia (Jon Ossoff, D), Iowa (open seat, Ernst retires), Nevada (Jacky Rosen, D), and Alaska (Lisa Murkowski, R). The full Senate map is at the Senate 2026 overview.
Issue-level polling context: The top issues driving 2026 are the economy and tariffs, healthcare, immigration, and Social Security. See the Battleground Tracker for the latest state-level polling and the Trump Policy Tracker for executive action context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Arizona have a Senate election in 2026?
No. Arizona has no Senate election in 2026. Both Arizona Senate seats were recently won: Mark Kelly (D, Class 3) won a full term in 2022 and serves until January 2029; Ruben Gallego (D, Class 1) won in 2024 and serves until January 2031. The next Arizona Senate elections are 2028 (Kelly) and 2030 (Gallego).
Who are Arizona's two US Senators in 2026?
Both Arizona senators are Democrats: Mark Kelly (Class 3, re-elected 2022, term ends 2029) and Ruben Gallego (Class 1, elected 2024, term ends 2031). Both are military veterans who ran as moderate, border-security-focused Democrats and consistently outperformed the national Democratic ticket in Arizona.
How did Ruben Gallego win in 2024 while Trump also won Arizona?
Gallego defeated Kari Lake by 5.4 points while Trump carried Arizona by 5.5 points the same day — an 11-point ticket-split. This was driven by Lake's two prior statewide losses, her election-denial record alienating Maricopa County suburbs, and Gallego's disciplined moderate campaign focused on Arizona-specific issues rather than national Democratic positioning.
When will Mark Kelly face re-election?
Mark Kelly's next re-election campaign is in 2028. He won his current full six-year term in November 2022, defeating Trump-backed Blake Masters by 5.4 points. His term runs through January 3, 2029. Arizona's presidential environment, immigration politics, and water policy will be the key factors in that race.
Why does Arizona have two Democratic senators despite voting Republican for president?
Both Kelly and Gallego ran as moderate Democrats with military backgrounds who explicitly broke from national Democratic positions on immigration and border security. Arizona's large independent voter registration and a history of ticket-splitting in the suburbs of Maricopa County create structural space for strong Democrats to win statewide even in Republican-leaning presidential years.
