Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the Democratic Nominee for the US Senate in Arizona, has been caught in a bizarre lie about his marriage, apparently announcing his engagement and wedding long after secretly getting married in 2019.
Gallego divorced his ex-wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, in 2016, just before she gave birth to his son.
The Gateway Pundit has reported on Gallego’s abandonment of his family for a Washington, DC lobbyist. Kari Lake, the Trump Endorsed Republican facing Gallego in the November General Election, took a shot at Gallego in an ad earlier this year, calling him a “deadbeat dad” who “shacked up with a DC lobbyist and left his son fatherless.”
According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, Gallego's Washington, DC, marriage license shows that he remarried in December 2019 to National Association of Realtors lobbyist Sydney Barron. Gallego has also sponsored or cosponsored at least 17 bills and voted for 38 bills that Barron lobbied for.
However, months later, Gallego publicly announced that he popped the question in a February 15, 2020 Instagram post, captioned, "She said yes!!"
Shortly after, on February 18, 2020, Politico reported the following:
ENGAGED -- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Sydney Barron, a legislative representative at the National Association of Realtors, got engaged this weekend on a trip to Ireland, where Gallego popped the question at a small restaurant in the historic city of Limerick. The couple met through mutual friends at the 2018 Congressional Baseball Game.
Oddly enough, they were already married for several months when he "proposed" to his wife. Over one year later, in June 2021, the pair reportedly had a wedding ceremony.
Politico again reported on June 7, 2021,
GALLEGO GETS HITCHED — Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Sydney Barron, director of government affairs at the National Association of Realtors, got married this weekend in Puerto Rico. The ceremony was officiated by Leigh Parker Pross, who introduced the couple back in 2018, and they were joined by friends and family for a beachfront ceremony. Pic… Another pic… SPOTTED: Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), and Puerto Rico Sen. Carmelo Rios Santiago.
Gallego reportedly also listed his wife in a disclosure as a "family member" in April 2021, before the two announced their marriage when he went on a trip to Qatar that was paid for by the US-Qatar Business Council, a special interest group that spent more than $84,000 on at least five lawmakers’ travel.
His motive for deceiving the public and keeping his marriage a secret for almost two years is unclear.
Gallego previously had his records of the divorce proceedings with his ex-wife sealed by the court. Washington Free Beacon is currently suing Gallego to unseal his divorce records, which they say "has fought tooth and nail."
"Ruben Gallego is a con man," Kari Lake told The Gateway Pundit. Whether it be working at a company investigated for committing medicare fraud, defrauding immigrants at a bank, egregiously violating the Stock Act, to now, very publicly, lying about the timeline AND circumstances between his controversial divorce to his nine-month pregnant wife and second marriage to a lobbyist."
Lake continued, "Like I said, Gallego is a con man, and his run for Senate is another swindle."