Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema said on Friday she was quitting the Democratic Party and registering as an independent senator.
“Like many Arizonans, I have never fully integrated into either of the two national parties,” Cinema wrote in a column for the Arizona Republic.
Cinema intends to keep its Democratic nominations on the committee, an aide to the senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
The aide didn’t say whether Cinema would continue to participate in Democratic caucuses. However, in an interview with Politico, also published this morning, Cinema said she would not be part of the Republican caucuses. If this is true, then Democrats will be able to maintain a firm grip on the upper house of Congress.
The cinema announcement was a bombshell as President Joe Biden’s administration agenda in the second half of his term was already clouded by Republicans, who are expected to take control of the House of Representatives on January 3 in winning the midterm elections.
Cinema statements so far indicate that it will continue to operate independently, as it has demonstrated over the past two years – working with Democrats and Republicans to pass laws, unafraid to create hurdles that neither the White House nor the Majority Leader are comfortable with. in the Senate Chuck Schumer.
Schumer’s aides and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell have yet to comment on Cinema’s decision.
With the new status of an independent candidate, Cinema consolidates its role as an independent in the Senate. The late Republican Senator John McCain played a similar role. Arizona senators have always been innovators. Barry Goldwater, who represented Arizona in the Senate in the 1950s and 1960s, breathed new life into the conservative political movement in the united states , but suffered a crushing defeat when he ran for president in 1964 against Lyndon Johnson.
Cinema has two more years before completing her six-year term in the Senate and could be re-elected in 2024 if she chooses to run again. If that happens, it is not yet clear whether former party members will challenge her.
Cinema and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin have kept Washington reeling over the past two years as they have repeatedly refused to support votes needed for legislative initiatives President Joe Biden is seeking to pass.
At the same time, they worked together on such ambitious bills, including a climate change investment bill. Just this week, movie and Republican Tom Tillis unveiled an immigration reform plan that caught the attention of the Senate.
Writing for the Arizona Republic, Cinema described her frustration with what she called a rigid two-party system that encourages blind obedience rather than independence.
“I have joined the growing number of Arizonans who reject partisan politics by declaring my independence from Washington’s broken party system. I have registered as an independent Arizona,” said writes Cinema.
The victory of Senator Raphael Warnock in the second round of the election, which took place Tuesday in Georgia, offered the Democrats and their supporters 51 seats in the Senate. Two other senators, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, are registered independents but support Democrats in most cases.
Cinema said his decision was influenced by the fact that a growing number of people in his state also declared themselves politically independent, rejecting the political labels of Republicans and Democrats.
“We don’t line up to do as we’re told, automatically subscribe to positions dictated by national political parties, or treat every issue with labels that keep us apart,” she wrote.
