Kyrsten Sinema switches to independent
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced in an Arizona Republic op-ed this morning that she’s switching her party affiliation from Democrat to independent. Like Donald Trump, the only team she plays for is her own.
What other move did Sinema have? She’s widely reviled as a vapid attention-hound by progressives and by who knows how many more-centrist Democrats. The former Green Party member has proven herself a pain in President Joe Biden’s and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s backsides. She’s going to draw a primary challenge if she chooses to run for reelection in 2024.
Sinema has, however, “created a scenario where if Democrats run a candidate in the 2024 general they risk throwing the race to the likes of Kari Lake,” observes Matthew Gertz of Media Matters. The party switch is no surprise. Very on-brand.
Arizonans, Sinema explains, “make our own decisions, using our own judgment and lived experiences to form our beliefs. We don’t line up to do what we’re told, automatically subscribe to whatever positions the national political parties dictate or view every issue through labels that divide us.”
Sinema eschews partisanship and extremes, blah, blah.
“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” Sinema tells CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Removing myself from the partisan structure – not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”
Sinema’s move away from the Democratic Party is unlikely to change the power balance in the next Senate. Democrats will have a narrow 51-49 majority that includes two independents who caucus with them: Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine.
“How does leaving the party change how you do your job?” Tapper asked the “moderate, centrist” senator.
“I don’t think anything will change about how I do my job,” Sinema replied.
So, why do it? Perhaps all the attention Sen. Raphael Warnock has received has starved her of attention. And as Gertz observed, the switch may shore up her flagging leverage in the Democrats’ 51-seat Senate majority. Plus, give her (in her mind) the only hope for hanging onto her seat in 2024. Kari Lake isn’t going away.
Sinema expects to keep her committee assignments. Meaning she will, like Sanders and King, caucus with Democrats, although she declined to confirm it. She will continue to defend LGBTQ rights, she writes, and work to “ensure fair and humane treatment for migrants and permanently protect ‘Dreamers.’ ” Again, what other move does she have but to caucus with Democrats?