Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego has not advocated for Social Security cuts

Arizona has one of the nation’s largest populations of older residents, so it makes sense that Social Security might be a hot topic in the swing state’s contested Senate race.

In her bid to replace retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., Republican Kari Lake said her Democratic competitor aims to cut people’s federal retirement benefits if he’s elected.

"Kamala & Walz and Ruben Gallego want to cut your Social Security. I won’t let them," Lake wrote Aug. 8 on X, aligning U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Gallego is a former U.S. Marine who was elected to Congress in 2015 after serving several years as a state lawmaker in Arizona. Lake is a former local television news anchor who gained a national profile in 2022, when she ran for Arizona governor, lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs and falsely claimed the election was stolen.

Lake’s X post linked to an Aug. 8 Fox News article about comments Walz made in 2010; the article did not mention Gallego. When we asked Lake’s campaign for evidence, it sent a statement saying Lake will protect Social Security and attacking Gallego over inflation. Our review of Gallego’s record and campaign statements surfaced no evidence that supports Lake’s assertion that Gallego wants to cut Social Security.

For this check, we focused on Gallego’s position, but Harris and Walz have vowed to protect Social Security. As Minnesota’s governor, Walz in 2023 signed into law a state tax exemption for Social Security. As a California senator in 2019, Harris co-sponsored the Social Security Expansion Act in the Senate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., which would have increased Social Security benefits.

PolitiFact found Gallego has a record of voting to increase Social Security benefits and he recently introduced legislation to increase benefits based on cost-of-living metrics.

Gallego in April co-sponsored Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, which would change how Social Security is calculated to adjust for cost of living if passed.

Richard Johnson, a Social Security expert at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan social policy research think tank, said the bill’s proposal to expand cost-of-living adjustments, often abbreviated as COLAs, would make Social Security better reflect real-world costs.

"The impact of that accumulates over time, so it really adds up for long-term beneficiaries — let’s say people in their 80s — who tend to struggle more financially than younger retirees," Johnson said.

Gallego also joined 175 Democratic Congress members to introduce the Social Security 2100 Act in 2023 to increase benefits. The proposed legislation, which would hike benefits by 2%, was referred to a subcommittee, but has not received a vote.

The bill proposed several detailed changes to how benefits are calculated for different recipients. Johnson said the Social Security 2100 Act would significantly expand Social Security across the board.

In Congress, Gallego has voted for bills that advocate for older Americans, including the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act in 2021. He also denounced a Senate Republican plan in 2022 that the liberal nonprofit the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said would jeopardize Medicare and Social Security.

Organizations that advocate for Social Security and represent older people, including Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and the National Committee To Preserve Social Security and Medicare, have backed Gallego.

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stated on November 12, 2024 in X, formerly Twitter

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During a January 2023 MSBC appearance, Gallego spoke about Social Security.

"We’re not going to cut Social Security, we’re not going to cut future Social Security," he said.

A review of Gallego’s X account, @RubenGallego, also shows statements he made about protecting Social Security.

Lake said on X that "Kamala & Walz and Ruben Gallego want to cut your Social Security."

We found no information to support this claim.

Lake provided no evidence to support her claim; her post linked to an article that did not mention Gallego. Gallego vocally opposed cutting Social Security. In Congress, he has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at making the costs of Social Security transparent and raising benefits.

He is also backed by groups, such as the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and the National Committee To Preserve Social Security and Medicare, that advocate for expanding Social Security.

His campaign said he does not want to decrease Social Security benefits if elected to the Senate in November.

We found no evidence to support Lake’s claim and much to contradict it. We rate this claim False.