Republican campaign arm hits Democrat Senate hopeful where it hurts: Scathing new ad accuses Ruben Gallego of 'walking out' on his family TWO weeks before child was born

The Republican Senate campaign arm is out with a scathing new ad accusing Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego of being a 'deadbeat dad' as the Senate race in the battleground states heats up.

'One of life's greatest joys, becoming a parent, but days before that life changing moment, Ruben Gallego walked out on his family, abandoning his newborn son,' the narrator says.

She goes on 'if deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego would abandon his own family, he won't be there for Arizonans when it matters most.'

Gallego, a Democratic congressman representing Arizona's third district, is in a bruising Senate race against Republican firebrand Kari Lake. 

The Real Clear Politics average of polls in the race shows Gallego with a six point lead on Lake.

Arizona is a major battleground come November not just in the presidential race but also for the Senate seat as Republicans look to retake the majority.

Senate candidate Ruben Gallego speaking at an event with Vice President Kamala Harris on April 12

Gallego is in a close race with Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake

The 30-second digital ad was put out by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 

'Arizona women can't trust a man who divorced his wife when she was weeks away from having their child,' said NRSC spokesperson Tate Mitchell in a statement.

Gallego and ex-wife Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego separated in 2016 while she was pregnant.

Gallego went on to marry Sydney Barron in 2021, and they welcomed a daughter last July.

Despite their divorce, Mayor Gallego, a Democrat, endorsed Gallego late last year in his Senate bid to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Senator Kyrsten Sinema. 

In her December 2023 endorsement, Mayor Gallego said he would do an 'excellent job.'

Rep. Gallego's lawyers have been fighting with the Free Beacon to prevent his divorce records from being unsealed.

Both Ruben and Kate Gallego has said little publicly about their decision to split up calling it a private matter. 

The NRSC released a 30-second political ad attacking Rep. Gallego for leaving his wife in 2016 while she was pregnant 

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego speaking at the state Capitol on April 9. Despite her split with Rep. Gallego in 2016 while she was pregnant, she endorsed him in the Senate race in November

Gallego, an Iraq War veteran, has said it came at a time when he was having  PTSD-induced 'outbursts.'

The congressman has been more open about his battle with PTSD. He has said wanting to be a better father drove him to seek treatment.

Lake has attacked her opponent numerous times over the timing of his divorce.

'I will not be lectured on motherhood by a man who left his wife when she was nine months pregnant with his first child,' she wrote in a post on X last year.

The new ad used images of a pregnant woman and ultrasound images.

It comes as Democrats have been attacking Lake heavily for flip-flopping on abortion as the issue has been a central focus in the Arizona race after the state's Supreme Court ruled a 1864 law banning nearly all abortion could be upheld. 

Gallego went after Lake for criticizing the 1864 ban following the State Supreme Court decision after she called it a 'great law' while running for governor in 2022. 

 Lake responded to his attacks by reposting those who slammed Gallego over his divorce.

One repost said 'He is not, and never has been, pro-woman or pro-family.'

Another repost read 'Why did you abandon your pregnant wife, Ruben?'