Sinema, who faces reelection in 2024, has been a vibrant but typically unpredictable power within the Senate, tending towards the state’s impartial streak and irritating Democratic colleagues at instances together with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to Democratic priorities.
Rather than assailing the Democratic Party in her assertion, she stated she was “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.”
In a press release, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated Sinema had knowledgeable him of her choice and requested to maintain her committee assignments — successfully maintaining her within the Democratic fold.
“Kyrsten is independent; that’s how she’s always been,” Schumer said. “I believe she’s a good and effective senator and am looking forward to a productive session in the new Democratic majority Senate.”
The Democrats “will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes,” he said.
In case of tie votes, Vice President Kamala Harris will continue to provide the winning vote for Democrats.
Sinema, who has modeled her political approach on the maverick style of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, will join a small but influential group of independent senators aligned with the Democrats — Sen. Angus King of Maine and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In a video explaining her choice, she stated: “Registering as an independent and showing up to work with the title of independent is a reflection of who I’ve always been. … Nothing’s going to change for me.’’
Sinema has not said whether she will seek reelection in 2024, but her move scrambles the landscape as Democrats already face a tough path to maintaining Senate control. Her switch risks splitting the Democratic vote in Arizona between Sinema and the eventual Democratic nominee, giving Republicans a solid opening.
A splintered ballot could help Republican recruiting efforts as they seek to perform better than their losses in the recent midterm elections. A weak GOP field contributed to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s reelection in Arizona last month.
A political action committee, Primary Sinema, that is raising money to support a potential challenger, said the money it has already raised will now be used to back “a real Democrat” in 2024.
Abandoning the Democratic Party is a striking evolution for a politician who began her career as a Green Party member and antiwar activist known as a “Prada socialist.” The shift has been particularly vexing for progressive activists who now see her as one of their chief antagonists.
The first-term Sinema wrote in The Arizona Republic that she came into office pledging “to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama. I promised I would never bend to party pressure.”
She wrote that her approach is “has upset partisans in both parties” but “has delivered lasting results for Arizona.” Sinema also said that she has “never fit perfectly in either national party.”
She told Politico in an interview that she will not caucus with Republicans and that she plans to keep voting as she has since winning election to the Senate in 2018 after three House terms.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, Sinema is likely to be matched against a well-funded primary challenger after angering much of the Democratic base by blocking or watering down progressive priorities such as a minimum wage increase and Biden’s big social spending initiatives.
Sinema’s most prominent potential primary challenger is Rep. Ruben Gallego, who has a long history of feuding with her.
The senator wrote that she was joining “the rising numbers of Arizonans who reject celebration politics by declaring my independence from the damaged partisan system in Washington.”
Sinema bemoaned “the national parties’ rigid partisanship” and stated “pressures in both parties pull leaders to the edges — allowing the loudest, most extreme voices to determine their respective parties’ priorities, and expecting the rest of us to fall in line.”
“In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought. Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress,” she wrote.
She added: “My strategy is uncommon in Washington, and has upset partisans in each events.”
Along with West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, she has been one of two moderate Democrats in the 50-50 Senate, and her willingness to buck the rest of her party has at times limited the ambitions of Biden and Schumer.
Sinema is a staunch defender of the filibuster, a Senate rule effectively requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation in the 100-member Senate. Many Democrats, including Biden, say the filibuster leads to gridlock by giving a minority of lawmakers the ability to veto.
Inauguration Day: A ceremony like no other
Last January, leaders of the Arizona Democratic Party voted to censure Sinema, citing “her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy″ — namely her refusal to go along with fellow Democrats to alter the Senate rule so they could overcome Republican opposition to a voting rights bill.
While that rebuke was symbolic, it got here just a few years since Sinema was heralded for bringing the Arizona Senate seat again into the Democratic fold for the primary time in a era. The transfer additionally previewed the persistent opposition that Sinema was seemingly face inside her personal celebration in 2024.
