Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced Friday she had registered as an independent, leaving the Democratic Party just days after it won a hard-fought runoff race in Georgia to secure 51 seats in the Senate.
“I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington,” Sinema, 46, wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic newspaper.
In an interview with Politico, the iconoclastic first-term senator said she would neither caucus with the Republican Party nor attend Senate Democrats’ weekly meetings — though the outlet noted her attendance at those gatherings was already a rarity.
“Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she insisted.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement that he had agreed to Sinema’s request to keep her on four committees, ensuring that Schumer will not need to re-up the power-sharing agreement with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that governed the workings of the Senate for the past two years.
“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. We will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power, and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes.”
Sinema would be the third independent to sit in the Senate, joining Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Both King and Sanders currently caucus with the Democrats, with Sanders chairing the Senate Budget Committee.
Sinema is also the first Senate Democrat to become an independent since Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who ditched the party after losing his 2006 primary to Ned Lamont, now the Nutmeg State’s governor.
Lieberman went on to win reelection as an independent candidate before retiring from the Senate.
In a separate interview with CNN‘s Jake Tapper, Sinema said she doesn’t care about the criticism she may face for leaving the Democratic Party.
“I’m just not worried about folks who may not like this approach,” she said. “What I am worried about is continuing to do what’s right for my state.”
Democrats had held the Senate 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff against Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia had handed the Democrats their 51st seat. Sinema said Warnock’s re-election “delighted” her.
Sinema said her decision to register as an independent stems from a sense that she has “never really fit into a box of any political party” — and it comes as a growing number of her constituents are also rejecting both the Republican and Democratic political labels.
Sinema is up for re-election in 2024, but she would not say whether she intends to run in what is expected to be a very competitive race.
“It’s fair to say that I’m not talking about it right now,” she told Politico.
Had she remained a Democrat, Sinema would have faced a well-funded primary challenge from progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego, who slammed the senator in a statement Friday morning.
“We need Senators who will put Arizonans ahead of big drug companies and Wall Street bankers,” Gallego said. “Whether in the Marine Corps or in Congress, I have never backed down from fighting for Arizonans. And at a time when out nation needs leadership the most, Arizona deserves a voice that won’t back down in the face of struggle. Unfortunately, Senator Sinema is once again putting her own interests ahead of getting things done for Arizonans.”
Until now, Sinema had been one of three centrist Senate Democrats who have often wielded their outsize leverage to block Biden’s agenda, including the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill.
The other two senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, will also be up for reelection in 2024.
Sinema also made a point of noting that her party affiliation switch does not mean she’s got her sights set on a higher office.
“I’m not running for president,” she told Politico.
With Post wires