So Kyrsten Sinema has left the Democratic party and re-registered as an independent to shake up the Senate. The way I see it, she just primaried herself.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has done the inevitable: She is leaving the Democratic Party.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the first-term senator said her decision to register as an independent in her home state “makes a lot of sense,” and that she won’t caucus with Republicans, meaning her decision won’t upset the balance of power in the US Senate after the reelection of Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia that gave Democrats a 51-49 majority earlier this week.
She told Tapper, “When I come to work each day, it’ll be the same,” Sinema said. “I’m going to still come to work and hopefully serve on the same committees I’ve been serving on and continue to work well with my colleagues at both political parties.”
Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money: “My favorite detail in this is that she won’t commit to caucusing with the Democrats, but she expects to keep all her committee assignments!” Yeah, that’s a knee slapper. The other Senate independents, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, formally caucus with Democrats and are counted as Dems as far as committees are concerned. Sinema possibly hadn’t thought that one out.
She becomes the first senator to leave her party since Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in 2009.
Like Specter, Sinema looked set to face an arduous primary if she sought reelection with her former party, given the maneuvering of Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) to run against her. So the move makes some sense for her personally.
But what about the political impact more broadly?
The first thing to note is that it remains unclear whether Sinema will continue to caucus with Democrats, as two other independents in the Senate do. When asked about this, Sinema spokesman Pablo Sierra-Carmona said merely that “she intends to maintain her committee assignments from the Democratic majority. She has never and will not attend caucus messaging or organizational meetings.”
That sounds like she would effectively caucus with Democrats — that is, align with them for purposes of organizing the Senate — but for some reason is avoiding saying so directly. And she has said she’s not sure whether her desk will remain on the Democratic side of the Senate. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether her move would change the balance of power in the Senate, she responded, “that’s kind of a D.C. thing to worry about.”
This question doesn’t immediately matter when it comes to whether Democrats will retain the Senate majority, but it does matter. They will have at least a 50-49 edge as long as Sinema doesn’t caucus with the GOP. But if her plan is to leave the Democratic caucus, that would make Sen. Raphael G. Warnock’s (D-Ga.) win in Tuesday’s runoff potentially hugely significant.
She’s up for re-election in 2024, and her running as an independent will probably mean she’ll be replaced by a Republican in 2025. I can’t imagine why she would think she could win as an independent.
"I can’t imagine why she would think she could win as an independent."
I would think she'd have a better chance of winning in the general as an independent than winning in a primary as a democrat. She knows damn well that she'll get killed in a primary, this is really her only chance. Total self preservation move. Of course she could have acted like a real democrat since her election but that ship has sailed. Schumer needs to out maneuver her somehow, if she caucuses with McConnell we'll still have a majority but we will be back to a power sharing agreement giving the GQP equal representation on committee's and no subpoena power. She's certainly complicated things for Schumer. I've always defended her, she votes with the Dems almost 100%, but this pisses me off, makes her look like a bit of an attention $%#@!&!, not a good look!
She never had any chance of winning reelection, no matter what she does. Her polling numbers in Arizona say she is less popular than rattlesnakes with all demographics.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/kyrsten-sinema-approval-rating-equally-unpopular-everyone.html
Agreed, she hasn't done herself any favors in the last 4 years. I think however if she has any chance (slim as it is) it's in a three-way race. Polls change, Arizona likes "moderates" if she goes up against a magat election denier and a liberal democrat she might be able to squeak out a win?
"Attention-seeking" seems to be her core motivation. That's why I think she should be referred to as "Senator Cinema".
Funny cartoon in hell!
https://assets.amuniversal.com/bfab2e5057f3013bd421005056a9545d.png
She is "special" in the same way it is special to serve bodily wastes at your holiday dinner.
Hope this is expressed sensitively enough to make the point without being in excessively bad taste. After all we are talking about the proverbial turd in the party's punch bowl.
The last of the Ronald Regan Democrats gone. Really government wasn't all that big of a problem until the republicans gave us Trump.
Now we find that no one in the Trump organization is in charge of records management. One news source commented in amazement that even mafia crime organizations had someone responsible for that.
Sinema just can't find a party that fits? I bet she could repatriate to a country with a half a dozen or more political parties and still have the same problem.
How generous that Chuck Schumer is letting her keep her committee assignments. She is on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs: Commerce, Science and Transportation; Veterans Affairs; as well as numerous subcommittes.
If she still has her right wing positions on subjects such as the "Immigration Invasion" and "no shots for you, mask wearer" etc. she can gum up the progress of those committees, and blame President Biden, Democrats in general and the "creeping socialists" in Congress to the point where the Senate Minority Leader invites her home for dinner and a desert of Federalist pie.
Now that she's no longer a member of the Democratic Party, we can all "callz it like we seez it:" Senator sENEMA was, is, and ever more shall be, a major political pain in the ass!!!
Pun, clearly intended.
Since she craves the camera's lens like a desperate, rapidly aging Hollywood starlet, even as an Independent, I'm confident she'll look for ways to throw a monkey-wrench into any, and probably all, Democratic initiative(s).
sENAMA can't help it. She's an ASSHOLE!
And btw: How can she claim to be an Independent," when she clearly is "dependent" on campaign money (AKA: Bribes) from Big Pharma, and other odious and corrupt corporate entities.
And I'm sure she's been saving feathers for the bed she'll be sleeping in after she either loses an election, or decides to retire.
And at her home, when she decides to retire for the night on her feather bed, she'll lay her traitorous head on a big, beautiful, and soft feather pillow,
This, after an easy day at some no-show job at some corporation(s).
Politicians look at "feather-bedding" as a perk that comes with the job of being a Congress wo/man or Senator. Perks for political jerks!
We non-politicians look at feather-bedding as a clear sign of corruption. Looking out for your own self-interests, means that you focus on your own priorities ahead of the interests of the people you were elected to serve.
She wrote an extremely repetitive explanation for her decision, published in the Arizona newspapers. She was trying to convince the readers that since they're all so independently and special, well it's the perfect decision to take. It came across like a hypnotist repeating an induction, trying to convince both herself and her readers. I guess a flake like her is better than a Boebert or an MTG. At least she's not pretending to be a Democrat.
Great snark over at the WaPo from the redoubtable Alexandra Petri:
"Anyone convinced that this new serve toward independence would make her any less than the human version of an eviction notice written in glitter gel pen can relax"
I hope the Dems have somebody solid to replace her. A really interesting project. Maybe I'll move to Arizona. California is expensive.
The Dems down in the southland of AZ aint got nohin. Their bench is filled with academic stepford wife clones who can not win in SE Az (Sandy Day O country). Sinema was born in the most beautiful place in the world and got exiled to the panhandle of FLA for her formative years. Then she went to BYU.
I suspect that she is a broken person.
Miss Cinema (borrowing from elkern) may be looking at AK and Murkowski. The Senator from Alaska was primaried by a Tea Party Trumpster, ran as an independent and came back to Congress. In '24 there's gonna be hyper-partisanship fatigue. If Trump has been convicted of criminal offenses, the GOP will be a complete dumpster fire. The Republican who wins in the primary in AZ is likely to be preaching open insurrection to free Trump. But to conservative voters, the Democrat may not thrill them either. So Miss Cinema may be planning on riding the perception that she's "independent."
My cynical opinion is that she and Manchin are being groomed for major positions in a post-Trump world. There's a movement – think "No Labels" and/or Third Way who want a third party. Look who's funding and the objective is clear. The money and people who pretend they are opposed to hyper-partisanship represent big business. Yeah, if the GOP falls apart and Democrats ascend to power, taxes and regualtion will change.
My definition of "No Labels" is that they're a group dedicated to turning the US dysfunctional plutocracy into a functional plutocracy. Tapping the disgust of voters over hyper-partisanship might do it.
My recommendation: follow the money. See who's feeding Cinema’s superpac as we move into the '24 elections.
Agree, I do think that Cinema can "crime". She has been in a lot of capers this past year and I suspect that the syndicates love her because she can play the part of the poor hard-working girl who came up out of poverty swindle. The maroons eat that stuff up.