Sinema Tries for a Hail Mary

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In a surprise move yesterday that appears to be a "Hail Mary" effort to save her US Senate seat as well as her political career, Krysten Sinema changed her party affiliation from "Democratic" to "Independent."  Sinema will be completing her first six-year term in the senate in 2024, and has not officially said whether she intends to run for re-election or not, though this sudden change in labels would tend to indicate that she is trying to maneuver into a position and a narrative that would make her more re-electable.

Senator Sinema, whom many regard as more of an actual flake than her predecessor in office, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, has been a very controversial figure in the Senate.  While the former college professor managed to vote with her party ninety-seven percent of the time, those times that she chose not to support the Democratic positions were always memorable.   She and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia were regularly seen as using their positions in an equally divided Senate to wield more power than they would have had in a chamber that was not so evenly split.

Senator Sinema, for instance, had angered many Democrats with her vote that singlehandedly stopped legislation that would have raised taxes on big investors.  In what many saw as a quid pro quo, she has received nearly a million dollars in campaign financing from private equity investors, hedge fund managers, and venture capitalists who benefitted from her vote.

In January of this year Sinema and Manchin voted with all Republican senators to stop a Democratic move to end the filibuster on a significant piece of legislation.  The move by her and Manchin killed the effort and kept the Senate from being able to advance major voting rights legislation.   The move to save the filibuster also insured that Sinema and Manchin's single votes would remain pivotal. The executive board of the Arizona Democratic Committee censured Sinema for that vote.

In the summer of 2020 while Biden was trying to pass a massive infrastructure bill, Sinema took three weeks away from her $174,000 per annum Senate job to do a paid internship at a California winery for $1,117.40.  Of course while she was there she also found time to fit in a big fundraiser for her campaign in nearby Sonoma.
 
Sinema is regarded as somebody who likes to be noticed.    Not only did she attract headlines by straying from her party of some key votes, the senator became equally well known for her unorthodox clothing choices and behavior, leading some to speculate that she was trying to draw attention to herself and was treating the Senate as a never-ending style show - or even a masquerade ball.  In March of 2021 in order to make her vote against a $15 an hour minimum wage amendment to President Biden's corona relief measure even more memorable, she highlighted her vote by standing and giving a "thumbs down" gesture. That callous hand sign toward America's working poor was little more than another way of flipping them the bird!

In addition to her overt behaviors which were sometimes at odds with national Democratic priorities, Sinema earned the wrath of Democrats back home in Arizona over her failure to actively campaign for her colleague, Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, and the Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, Katie Hobbs, in the recent November general election.   Both of those candidates went on to win their elections even with Sinema just sitting idly by on the sidelines.

A recent poll in Arizona showed her lagging significantly behind Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego in a potential race for the seat Sinema currently holds.   It was becoming clear that if she ran for re-election as a Democrat, the incumbent senator could - and likely would - lose the Democratic primary.

But as of yesterday morning Krysten Sinema is no longer an official Democrat.  She is an Independent who says she will continue to caucus with the Democratic Party - like Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine - though she seldom attended Senate caucuses in the past.  If she does not caucus with Republicans, the Democrats will still maintain an actual majority in the Senate - something that is critical in the control of Senate committees.  She also expects to keep her current committee assignments.

So now Senator Sinema no longer has to worry about losing in a primary.  Her way forward to win the upcoming election is to hope her presence on the ballot will induce the Democrats not to run a candidate against her and risk splitting the party - and that she hopefully can beat whoever the Republicans put forward - much as Senators Sanders and King manage to do in their states.

Arizona, however, is not peaceful New England - and Ruben Gallego is already fundraising off of Sinema's desertion of the Democratic Party and giving a strong impression that he has made up his mind to get into the race.  It's likely to be a wild race, and if the Republicans nominate a candidate who is not crazy - not a "given" in Arizona - the Democratic Party could wind up losing a Senate seat that it had worked so very hard to capture.

Thanks for nothing, Senator Sinema.   The loss will be on you!