Three years later, my memories of Jan. 6 are still fresh. The yells as members and security barricaded the doors to the House floor. Members of Congress deploying gas masks. My Marine Corps training kicking in as we prepared to fight to evacuate the chamber. Texting my wife that I loved her, that I would be OK. The chaos of waiting to know if we would return to the House floor and cast our votes to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Jan. 6, 2021, is a day I will never forget. God willing, a day this country will never forget. Extremist Republicans like Senate candidate Kari Lake try to rewrite history and call it a “peaceful protest” where rioters were “invited in” — but I won’t let them. None of us should. That day was anything but peaceful.
On Jan. 6, the rioters were the weapon.
Across the Capitol, thousands of rioters stormed the center of our democracy with the hopes of preventing the certification of the 2020 election. With many dressed in combat gear, they brutally assaulted over 100 law enforcement officers because they believed Donald Trump’s lie that the election was stolen.
As a Marine serving in Iraq, I dealt with some very aggressive crowds. Individuals themselves aren’t usually the problem, but when they get together and create a mob, the mob itself is the weapon. On Jan. 6, the rioters were the weapon.
Capitol Police fought like hell to protect us. Tragically, several of them died in the aftermath of what happened at the Capitol that day; many more still live with physical and mental scars that will never fade. I’ve gotten to know some of these brave heroes well in the aftershock, bonding over what we saw.
To me, this was personal. That morning, I had prepared to go on the House floor and defend the right of the will of the people of Arizona, my home, to be heard. One minute, I was a member of Congress ready and willing to cast my vote — my district’s vote — to certify the presidential election. The next, I was standing on a desk, teaching members of Congress how to put on a gas mask and directing them on how best to escape the chamber.
The insurrectionists desecrated the Senate chamber, pillaged offices and assembled gallows in an attempt to throw out tens of millions of votes and — in a matter of hours — dissolve our democracy.
These conspiracy theories go beyond Jan. 6.
And yet, three years later, far-right conspiracy theorists right here in Arizona still have the audacity to lie about what happened. Blake Masters spread the lie that it was a “false-flag operation set up by the FBI,” a fringe claim reiterated by some of the country’s most far-right conspiracy theorists, including Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar.
And look at Lake, who tells her followers it was a “staged riot” set up by the FBI to turn the American people against the MAGA movement. She embraces Jan. 6 insurrectionists on the campaign trail. She defends the jailed “political prisoners,” including a man who swung a baseball bat at Capitol Police officers. It’s easy to roll your eyes at these conspiracy theorists. To laugh them off. But here’s the thing: We’re talking about elected lawmakers and people seeking public office. Lake is now running for Senate. And she could win. Nothing about that is funny. These conspiracy theories go beyond Jan. 6. Dozens of fringe GOP lawmakers and candidates continue to lie and say that Trump won the 2020 election — an election that happened well over three years ago. And the effects trickle down to other elections: After Arizona voters rejected Lake in 2022, she asked the court to throw out their votes and hand her the election anyway. She threatened armed violence, undermined Arizona’s elections system, and spread a year’s worth of misinformation. These lies have no place in government. I joined the Marines to defend this country — I refuse to let people like Kari Lake destroy it.
Rep. Ruben Gallego
Rep. Ruben Gallego represents Arizona's 3rd congressional district in the House of Representatives. 
