Sinema's Decision To Become Independent Upends The Senate. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is switching to the independent party, giving...
Sinema's Decision To Become Independent Upends The Senate.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is switching to the independent party, giving the Democratic Party's slim control in Washington a shock.
The first-term senator told POLITICO in a 45-minute interview that she will not caucus with Republicans and that she plans to vote the same way she has for the past four years in the Senate. Nothing about my values or behavior will change, she declared.
Democrats will still hold a functional Senate majority in the upcoming Congress, despite the fact that it will not precisely be the tidy 51 seats they thought, provided that Sinema honors her promise. They should also have enough support to dominate Senate committees. Additionally, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has been a crucial swing vote in the 50-50 chamber for the past two years, will retain some but not all of his significant influence in the Democratic caucus as a result of Sinema's decision.
Sinema notified Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of her decision on Thursday but would not say whether she would seek reelection in 2024.
Sinema stated, "I don't anticipate that anything will change about the Senate structure," adding that some of the specifics of how her election will change the Senate are "a issue for Chuck Schumer. I intend to show up to work and do the same work that I always do. I simply aim to arrive at work and work independently.
She said that her secret decision to leave the Democratic Party shows that she "never really fit into a box of any political party." She said this is also true of her fiercely independent state and millions of voters across the country who don't belong to a political party.
Sinema has a well-known reputation for breaking with tradition. She has done Ironman triathlons and worked at a Napa Valley winery on the side. During floor votes, she often hangs out on the Republican side.
The 46-year-old said that switching parties was the next logical step in a political career built on working closely with both Democrats and Republicans. This way of thinking helped her play a key role in bipartisan deals on infrastructure, gun safety, and same-sex marriage in the current 50-50 Senate. Some Democrats are also angry about it, especially because she doesn't want to raise taxes and tries to weaken the filibuster.
Her move will give her Republican allies a boost, but it will also give her Democratic critics at home and on the Hill more confidence. Sinema said, "I don't really care about criticism from outside sources," and she'll go for a "hard run" after her announcement is made public, "because that's what I usually do on Friday mornings."
Even before she switched parties, she heard that Rep. Ruben Gallego might run against her in the primary in 2024. (D-Ariz.). If she wants to run again, becoming an independent will keep her from having to run against Gallego or another progressive in the primary. If both Democrats and Republicans ran against her in a hypothetical general election, it could be a mess.
Sinema said she has a different goal in mind, which is to completely break away from a party that has never been a good fit for her, even though the Democratic Party helped her win her hard-fought 2018 race. In that year, she beat former Sen. Martha McSally to become the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years (R-Ariz.).
Sinema didn't want to talk about running for a second term in the Senate. "It's safe to say that I'm not talking about it right now," she said.
"I keep my attention on what I'm doing at this moment. And I think it's best for my state that I sign up as an independent. I agree with it. She said, "I think it's good for the country. Politics and elections will come later."
Still, she ruled out one thing that her new status as an independent might make people think of: "I am not running for president."
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter left the Republican Party and became a Democrat ten years ago. Former Sen. Joe Lieberman left the Democratic Party and became an independent even longer ago. Rumors that Manchin is leaving the Democratic Party are often shot down by him.
Sinema said she is not directly asking anyone to leave the Democratic Caucus or the GOP Conference with her. Instead, she wants the Senate to be "a place where people feel comfortable and confident saying and doing what they believe," she said.
This means that the Senate's loose group of dealmakers from both sides of the aisle, some of whom are retiring this year, will have to keep working together. She has already talked to Katie Britt, the Republican senator-elect from Alabama, about working together.
And she keeps in touch with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, which could be helpful with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. "We served together for a long time, and we're friends," she said of McCarthy.
She said she won't change the way she's always done things when it comes to confirming Democratic presidential appointees, whom she looks at closely but usually backs, and she said she expects to keep her committee assignments as long as the Democrats are in power (she currently holds two subcommittee chairmanships). She also said that nothing would change about her ideas, which are more liberal on social issues like abortion than most Republicans and more conservative on money than most Democrats.
Sinema voted to convict former President Donald Trump in two impeachment trials. She also voted against Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was backed by Trump, and voted for President Joe Biden's choice, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She also voted for two Democratic party-line bills in this Congress. One was about helping people with the coronavirus, and the other was about the environment, prescription drugs, and taxes.
She said she has good relationships with Biden, the Senate majority leader, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In fact, McConnell invited her to give a speech on bipartisanship in his home state a few months ago, which was watched by a lot of people.
Sinema won't attend weekly Democratic Caucus meetings like independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine), but she doesn't do that very often now. She isn't sure if her desk will stay on the side of the Senate floor for Democrats.
And Sinema, who was a state legislator and served three terms in the House before she was elected to the Senate, said that Sen. Raphael Warnock's (D-Ga.) reelection victory on Tuesday "delighted" her. Warnock's win will probably make her decision less painful for Democrats, but Sinema said she would not wait for the results of the Georgia runoff election, which seemed to give her party a real majority for the first time since 2014.
"It's not so much about the timing," she said of her news. "Really, I'm just trying to figure out how I can be most useful. How can I stay true to my core values and the values of my state, and how can I keep being a really productive but independent voice for Arizona? ”
Since she has left the Democratic Party, she doesn't want to help figure out how many seats they control.
Sinema said, "Let me just say that these are not the kinds of questions I'm interested in." "I want people to see that good work can be done with people of different political views and without the poles or pressures of a party structure."
When she goes to the Senate, she looks for ways to get involved in legislation, usually with a Republican partner. And these strategies work. She used her work with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is leaving office, on the $550 billion infrastructure law that Biden backed as an example. She is doing the same thing with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on the issue of immigration reform, which has been a problem for lawmakers for decades.
This pair seems to be digging in their heels as the federal courts threaten to bring back border restrictions from the pandemic era, the number of border crossings goes up, and younger undocumented immigrants still don't have legal protections against being deported.
Sinema said of her talks with Tillis about immigration, "This is by far the most difficult political issue I've ever worked on." "I'm not sure I can answer your question about where we are or where we're going. What I can tell you is that we trust each other very much."
Sinema has worked with a few Republicans on a regular basis, but it's hard to imagine a GOP majority being as interested in her policy goals as Democrats have been. Under McConnell, the Senate has often paid more attention to picking judges than to passing big laws.
Sinema said that she doesn't worry about how any future changes in who controls the Senate will affect her work. She said, "Party control is a question for the party members, not for me."
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