Sen. Mark Kelly criticized the Arizona Democratic Party’s recent censure of colleague Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over her opposition to filibuster reform.
A spokeswoman for Kelly’s 2022 reelection campaign told the Arizona Republic he believes Sinema, his fellow Democrat from Arizona, should not be condemned for her filibuster stance, which recently tanked Senate Democrats’ efforts to pass voting reform.
“Senator Kelly does not support the censure,” spokeswoman Sarah Guggenheimer told The Arizona Republic Tuesday. “While they came to different decisions on this vote, he looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Sinema on Arizona priorities, as they have done during his first year in the Senate.”
ARIZONA DEMOCRATS CENSURE SINEMA FOR OPPOSING FILIBUSTER REFORM
Kelly’s position on the Senate filibuster remained a public mystery until shortly before the Senate voted on the rule change last Wednesday, when he released a statement saying he supported changing the filibuster rules to take up the voting reform legislation.
Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin both voted against changing the filibuster rules, a position they’ve reiterated for months. Both argued the filibuster encourages bipartisanship in the Senate.
The Arizona Democratic Party censured Sinema on Saturday, saying party members needed to be “crystlal clear” in their support for voting rights. The move means some of the institutional support that propelled Sinema to victory in 2018 may be eroding in light of her centrist tendencies.
Current filibuster rules allow members of the Senate to prevent certain types of legislation from coming up for a vote through continuous debate that requires 60 votes, or cloture, to end. While Democrats have the vice president’s tiebreaker vote in the 50–50 Senate, Republicans are able to block much of their agenda with the filibuster.
Some Senate Democrats, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, suggested they are open to supporting a primary challenge against Sinema due to her support of the filibuster.
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Kelly, who narrowly defeated incumbent Sen. Martha McSally in 2020, is facing a difficult reelection campaign for the Senate in 2022. Cook Political Report ranks his race as a “toss-up.” Arizona has become politically competitive in recent years, with President Joe Biden becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Kelly’s campaign and Senate staff for comment but did not receive responses.
