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AZ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Leaving Democrat Party, Registers as Independent

AZ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Leaving Democrat Party, Registers as Independent

“Removing myself from the partisan structure – not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has also gone about her life to the beat of her own drum, so no one should be shocked that she left the Democrat Party and registered as an independent.

Sinema is one of the few politicians in D.C. who will work with anyone and won’t conform to a party’s mold.

Sinema knows the majority of Americans also don’t fit the mold. She wrote in The Arizona Republic:

Everyday Americans are increasingly left behind by national parties’ rigid partisanship, which has hardened in recent years. Pressures in both parties pull leaders to the edges, allowing the loudest, most extreme voices to determine their respective parties’ priorities and expecting the rest of us to fall in line.

In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought. Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress. Payback against the opposition party has replaced thoughtful legislating.

Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes.

Important point: “Americans are more united than the national parties would have us believe.”

Sinema continued:

It’s no wonder a growing number of Americans are registering as independents. In Arizona, that number often outpaces those registered with either national party.

When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans.

That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.

I registered as an Arizona independent.

Good for her.

Sinema expanded the explanation in an interview with CNN:

“I’ve registered as an Arizona independent. I know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually, I think it makes a lot of sense,” Sinema said in a Thursday interview with Tapper in her Senate office.

“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she added. “Removing myself from the partisan structure – not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”

The Democrat Party won an outright Senate majority 51-49, but Sinema has not confirmed which party she will caucus with.

Sinema promised not to change anything about herself except her registered party, so I doubt Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will throw a huge hissy fit:

“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.”

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Comments

Actions are louder than words. All this change means is that she will not be primaried since she is running next time as an independent. If her voting record changes, then this becomes news.

    JohnSmith100 in reply to Oracle. | December 9, 2022 at 10:38 am

    I would like to point out that lots of people who desert the Dem party first go independent, then are attacked by other Dems and eventually join republicans. The way things are going with Trump, the Republican party may face a large exodus to independent. If RINOs get the upper hand it will cost the party.

      henrybowman in reply to JohnSmith100. | December 9, 2022 at 7:10 pm

      The problem with this style of migration by Democrats is that it just breeds more RINOs. Yay, Sinema held the line on the filibuster. One issue. That still puts her behind Romney, and we don’t need another Romney.

    Paula in reply to Oracle. | December 9, 2022 at 10:52 am

    She is looking ahead at the next election and has determined that this will help her get the most votes.

    The_Mew_Cat in reply to Oracle. | December 9, 2022 at 11:36 am

    It also means she could run in a 3-way contest in 2024, where she merely needs to get more votes than the Republican, but doesn’t have to clear 50%.

      henrybowman in reply to The_Mew_Cat. | December 9, 2022 at 7:18 pm

      She already runs in a 3-way contest, and our state (unlike Georgia) doesn’t require a vote of over 50%. Going independent would mean she would now have to get more votes than both the Republican AND her replacement Democrat. Maybe she’s betting that’s easier, but I wouldn’t.

        henrybowman in reply to henrybowman. | December 10, 2022 at 2:37 am

        A local pundit theorizes she is doing this because she foresees Reuben Gallegos wiping her out in the next primary. If so, her response doesn’t make much sense to me, since she and Gallegos will simply split the looney vote in the general, letting a Republican waltz right in. Unless, of course, there’s something in it for the Republican to take a dive.

She’s just getting off he Overton Bus at her scheduled stop.
It’s already traveled so far left that it doesn’t make a difference to me.

Caucus with the GOP and we’ll see how serious you are, Senator.

2smartforlibs | December 9, 2022 at 8:25 am

So no real change just more pandering.

Repeal the 17th Amendment. Senators were supposed to be the States representative not some national parties.

    That progressive policy was the beginning of the end of our constitutional system. And it’s here to stay.

    Milhouse in reply to Wade Hampton. | December 9, 2022 at 10:38 am

    They are the states’ representatives. The states are the people, not the legislators who are supposed to serve them. The pre-17A system turned state legislatures into a sort of electoral college for senator; people were elected to the state legislature not for what laws they would support for the state, but for how they would vote in the senate election. Imagine if the presidential electoral college were given legislative power! That’s what repealing the 17th would do.

    Now what I’d like to do is abolish the senate as it currently exists altogether, and replace it with a house consisting of the fifty state governors, each of whom is ex officio a member of this house, but is entitled to appoint a delegate to act his behalf. That delegate would be responsible to the governor, and could be replaced at any time. That would ensure that the upper house of congress truly represented the states’ interests, not the personal interests of whoever managed to get elected, whether by the people or the legislature.

      alaskabob in reply to Milhouse. | December 9, 2022 at 11:27 am

      Brilliant idea.

        CommoChief in reply to alaskabob. | December 9, 2022 at 12:18 pm

        Hard pass. The Legislature of each State, fully accountable to the Citizens of their individual districts, is far closer to the Citizens than a Statewide candidate. Easy to vote out an individual legislator who strays too far from the wishes of the Citizens who comprise his district.

        It’s way harder to achieve functional control of the State legislature than to win a single Statewide race. Returning to the pre 17th amendment manner of choosing Senators through the actions of the Legislature is far preferable IMO.

      BierceAmbrose in reply to Milhouse. | December 9, 2022 at 3:34 pm

      ‘They are the states’ representatives. The states are the people, not the legislators who are supposed to serve them.’

      Piffle.

      Federally, the representatives were to directly — er — represent the people, indeed responsive to individuals more directly than even states thanks to districts being smaller. That is, until parties got hold of gerrymandering, “for the party!”

      Senators were associated with the governing of the state, to represent at the federal level the challenges of governing the states.

      Direct election off Senators stifles that perspective, which was the point of doing it. One wonders what feebish shenanigans we’d have been spared were this still so. Opinions differ on whether that’s a bug or a feature.

        Senators were associated with the governing of the state, to represent at the federal level the challenges of governing the states.

        That is piffle. There is no support for it in the debates on the constitution. The senators represent their states, and the states are their people. The difference between the two houses is simply in how much weight each state has; in the lower house their weight varies by their population, while in the senate they are all equal. That’s all. And that is the same now.

      henrybowman in reply to Milhouse. | December 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

      “The states are the people, not the legislators who are supposed to serve them.”
      The people already have a federal house of their own. The Senate was designed to represent the states as sovereign, equal entities.

        Milhouse in reply to henrybowman. | December 10, 2022 at 10:40 pm

        But who are the states? Not the legislatures, but the people. Remember that the whole constitution was deliberately referred for ratification NOT to the state legislatures, but directly to the people of each state. A senator is supposed to represent the people of his state, just as a representative is supposed to represent the people of his district. He does that more directly if he is elected by those people.

Nothing but a stupid meaningless stunt. She must be worried about her reelection.

She’s already said she’s going to ‘remain on her committees’. She’s going to caucus with the Democrats.

This changes absolutely nothing except she may get permission to take a few show votes against the Democrats when her vote doesn’t matter.

Remember Bernie Sanders is an ‘independent’ too.

    Steven Brizel in reply to Olinser. | December 9, 2022 at 8:37 am

    Sinema is far more intelligent and intellecually honest and willing to buck the Democrats than BS who is an unrepentant Communist

Steven Brizel | December 9, 2022 at 8:36 am

Thus, even the Democrats’ hold on the Senate still depends on the VP in case of a 50-50 deadlock since Sinema was never a lock step Democrat on all issues

    CommoChief in reply to Steven Brizel. | December 9, 2022 at 9:04 am

    Not entirely. If Sinema chooses to caucus with the r then nothing changes in terms of day to day control.

    Currently at a 50/50 the committee assignments are even and lots of little things still have to be done jointly between McConnell and Schumer to make the place run.

    In a 51/49 split the d/prog have total control of committee and don’t have to work with r at all.

      MattMusson in reply to CommoChief. | December 9, 2022 at 10:20 am

      Depending upon how the bidding for Sinema goes, the Senator from West Virginia may decide to put his party affiliation up sale.

        The_Mew_Cat in reply to MattMusson. | December 9, 2022 at 11:35 am

        Manchin isn’t going to change parties because he is toast in 2024 regardless. If Manchin does anything, it will either be to retire, or to challenge Biden (or KH) for the Dem Presidential nomination.

          CommoChief in reply to The_Mew_Cat. | December 9, 2022 at 12:20 pm

          Manchin is the loser here unless he suddenly decides to go Indy as well. He will still have some leverage as a weather vane but less so if d/prog have 51/49 caucus advantage.

Are those glasses real or just a fashion accessory to make her look smart?

Remember the Dems’ 50 in the last senate included two independents. Now their 51 includes three independents. That’s all. It’s still 51 and thus a majority without the VP, so no more parity on committees.

Very few independents are actually independent. Pew Research says that 3 out of 4 independents still lean toward one of the two major parties and that they aren’t all that different from the voters in the party they lean toward.

So now that the Senate is not 50/50 she can virtue signal without it meaning anything real. Very brave of you.

    healthguyfsu in reply to diver64. | December 9, 2022 at 1:49 pm

    Technically, it was already not 50/50 because of Bernie Sanders but we know how little that means.

      diver64 in reply to healthguyfsu. | December 9, 2022 at 4:43 pm

      Believe me, that useless NY Carpetbagger was my Senator for a number of years so I’m quite familiar with him. One of my friends did a bunch of the contracting work on his camp on North Hero. I will say this, his camp seems expensive but everything on Lake Champlain is now thanks to people like him from NY, NJ, CT, MA etc. Heck, I don’t make the jack he does and I still have a camp on a pond up there and a house down in NC.

She has declared herself politically non-binary. I wonder if she has been experimenting with some new socialism-blocking drugs.

She’s just doing what she thinks is best for getting elected in a very divided state.

    henrybowman in reply to healthguyfsu. | December 9, 2022 at 7:24 pm

    This is why I think it’s a bad move. In a highly polarized state, she’s now given the loony left someone other than her to vote for in 2024.

There is one deadly, fundamental flaw in her thinking, ” Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes.

Important point: “Americans are more united than the national parties would have us believe.”

Both parties have colluded together to keep true independents out of the political, process, most importantly getting truly independent candidates on election ballots is extremely difficult. Americans aren’t told, the two main political parties forced it upon the electorate. A true independent will never get on the debate stage again under current conditions, will never get the needed national exposure to gain traction.

Believe me, that useless NY Carpetbagger was my Senator for a number of years so I’m quite familiar with him. One of my friends did a bunch of the contracting work on his camp on North Hero. I will say this, his camp seems expensive but everything on Lake Champlain is now thanks to people like him from NY, NJ, CT, MA etc. Heck, I don’t make the jack he does and I still have a camp on a pond up there and a house down in NC.

Subotai Bahadur | December 9, 2022 at 6:41 pm

Dezhinformatsia and Maskirova. She will caucus with the Democrats, vote with the Democrats, but the Left will have an excuse that whatever Enabling Act they come up with is the fault of the Independents.

Subotai Bahadur

I spent a great deal of time in the Hill for a bit over 20 years. The last 10 years I was dissatisfied with both parties and was looking to eventually see independents in and leave both parties sitting on the side lines.

Then Trump showed up and Hillary was radioactive as far I was concerned.

I had a lot in common with Republicans for a long time, but could not stand RINOs.

Today the two parties are more polarized than ever, and people center right or left will be much more prone to vote independent.

Now if Rino’s get control again, I will bolt so fast that the door will not have a chance to hit me in the ass.

No say that Rino’s or others spurn Trump, and he decides to run independent, the republican party will be in even more trouble than Dems are right now.

What do the rest of you think?

At this time I am looking to try and catalyze peace between Trump and Musk, and to a lessor degree DeSantis. What do you think the impact of that might be?

I was a very good tactician, an old fart now, probably not as sharp as I used to be.

I think that DeSantis is doing a good job in Florida, I see him as being to prone to compromise, and I do not think he has the chops to take on deep state. I also think he was scheming to displace Trump, and that is why Trump went after him. In the end DeSantis is a conventual politician, my experience is that politicians are con artists, some better than others.

Now if Rino’s get control again,

Oh they are!