Kyrsten Sinema

2022 - 12 - 9

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Image courtesy of "NPR"

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaves the Democratic Party to register as an ... (NPR)

Sinema's move is unlikely to change the power balance in the Senate, as it comes days after Sen. Raphael Warnock won the Georgia runoff election to give ...

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Sinema leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an ... (CNN)

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party and registering as a political independent, she told CNN's Jake Tapper in an exclusive TV ...

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Sinema switches to independent, shaking up the Senate (Politico)

The Arizona senator won't say whether she's running for reelection but said in an interview she doesn't expect a change in how the Senate operates.

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US Senator Kyrsten Sinema says she will leave Democratic Party (BBC News)

Democrats maintain control of the Senate, despite the Arizona senator's move to sit as an independent.

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Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema switches to independent (WOKV)

Sinema told Politico in an interview that she will not caucus with Republicans and that she plans to keep voting as she has since winning election to the Senate ...

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US senator Kyrsten Sinema breaks with Democratic party (Financial Times)

Decision to register as an independent deals blow to Joe Biden's party after success in midterm elections.

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Kyrsten Sinema Keeps Holding the Democratic Party Hostage (Vanity Fair)

The Arizona Senator announced she's leaving the Democratic party and registering as an Independent, but she's been cagey about what that will mean for ...

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Kyrsten Sinema leaves Democratic Party, adding drama to tight U.S. ... (The Globe and Mail)

Maverick U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, she said on Friday, just days after Democrats won ...

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Kyrsten Sinema Switches to Independent, Diluting Democratic-Led ... (BNN)

(Bloomberg) -- Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema declared as an independent Friday but made clear she won't caucus with Republicans, maintaining Democrats' ...

The most consequential switch in recent times was Republican Jim Jeffords of Vermont becoming an independent and caucusing with Democrats in 2001, giving them the Senate majority. They have divergent political stands but both caucus with Democrats on matters of the chamber’s organization and consistently vote with the party. Having a third independent in the Senate has no recent precedent. Her office said she intends to keep her committee assignments from the Democratic majority. “In one way, Sinema just made our jobs easier by bowing out of a Democratic primary she knew she couldn’t win. The White House, however, stressed on Friday Sinema’s work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and legislation to boost the domestic semiconductor industry.

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Why Kyrsten Sinema Left The Democratic Party (FiveThirtyEight)

Remember when Georgia's runoff gave Democrats 51 seats in the U.S. Senate? Well, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said not so fast, my friend: This morning, ...

[according to the U.S. of Virginia might make the most interesting comparison to Sinema: A conservative Democrat, Of this group, Sinema is the sixth to become an independent at some point, but only three prior to her actually stuck with identifying that way. Sinema is just the 10th senator since 1951 to formally switch parties while in office, Party switch So getting voters to eschew the major-party candidates won’t be easy, especially if Sinema isn’t overwhelmingly popular (the Suffolk poll put her overall favorability at 36 percent favorable, 38 percent unfavorable). Having upset Democrats, Sinema might lose most of their support to the Democratic pick, and there’s no guarantee that many Republicans back her over their party’s nominee, even if that candidate is highly problematic. Yoshinaka’s study found party switchers suffer an electoral penalty in their first general election after switching, with an average decline of 4 to 9 percentage points in vote share. He found that ideological disagreement usually had to occur alongside a desire to run for higher office or to gain a more valuable committee post to produce a greater likelihood of changing parties. [intends to mostly align](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/12/09/sen-kyrsten-sinema-leaves-democratic-party-to-become-an-independent/69710762007/) with the Democrats and keep her committee assignments from that party (which Majority Leader Chuck Schumer [confirmed he had agreed to honor](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/09/krysten-sinema-independent-white-house-00073243)). Since joining the Senate, she’s taken public stances against Democratic efforts [to abolish the filibuster](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/13/how-kyrsten-sinema-defended-filibuster-bipartisanship/) and, along with Manchin, pushed her party [to sharply reduce](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/23/sinema-35t-spending-bill-506583) the outlays in budgetary legislation. On paper, then, the next Senate’s makeup will be 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats and three independents.

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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaves Democrats, registers as Independent ... (Globalnews.ca)

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced on Friday that she would be leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an Independent, which surprised some in ...

- U.S. - TikTok CEO grilled by U.S. - Trudeau hosts gala to wrap Biden’s presidential visit to CanadaGlobal National

Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema registers as an independent ... (National Post)

U.S. Senate is now split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote for Democrats.

The move also previewed the persistent opposition that Sinema was likely face within her own party in 2024. Sinema is a staunch defender of the filibuster, a Senate rule effectively requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation in the 100-member Senate. She is facing reelection in 2024 and is likely to be matched up with a well-funded primary challenger after angering much of the Democratic base by blocking or watering down progressive priorities such as a minimum wage increase or President Joe Biden’s big social spending initiatives. She is expected to maintain her committee assignments through the Democratic majority, according to a Senate Democratic aide. … Nothing’s going to change for me.” Sinema, who has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late Sen.

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Sinema's break with the Democratic Party may not help her as much ... (NPR)

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced she will no longer be a member of the Democratic Party, raising questions about how independent politicians can really be.

It's very likely her candidacy would pull more from the Democratic nominee and open up a path for a Republican to win with a mere plurality. Sanders, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia all have voted with the party to a lesser degree, albeit slightly, according to a What's true in politics is that you have to start with a base of support. There's a real danger here for both the party and for Sinema. She voted with the party 93% of the time, which is not even the lowest of other Democrats (or those who caucus with them). "Last month, the voters of Arizona made their voices heard loud and clear – they want leaders who put the people of Arizona first," said Rep. there's been no overlap at all between the least liberal Democrats and the least conservative Republicans in the House. When he visited Arizona in 2003, for example, right as the Iraq war was starting – a war he voted for and defended – he was greeted by anti-war protests. Ever since, the gaps between the least conservative Republicans and least liberal Democrats in both the House and Senate have widened – making it ever less likely that there's any common ground to find." The writing was on the wall for a while with Lieberman and Democrats. Raphael Warnock won his runoff election in Georgia, Democrats still have firm control of the chamber, 50-49. (Democrat Al Franken's victory in Minnesota then gave Democrats a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority that helped pass the Affordable Care Act.)

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Trump Calls to “Terminate” the Constitution, and Kyrsten Sinema's ... (The New Yorker)

It's been a busy week in national politics: Raphael Warnock triumphed over Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff, Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic ...

[Spotify](https://pod.link/EAxjj.spotify?pdst_key=df1e65c3eb684bbabcda953605e811ee&pdst_group=83a946fcfb264355b29c24a0dd34adf2&pdst_label=bj0vajYd) [Apple](https://pod.link/EAxjj.apple?pdst_key=df1e65c3eb684bbabcda953605e811ee&pdst_group=83a946fcfb264355b29c24a0dd34adf2&pdst_label=bj0vajYd) Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation, starting with Donald Trump’s recent call to “terminate” the Constitution so that he can be reinstated as President or have the 2020 election be “redone.”

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Opinion | Kyrsten Sinema Is Right. This Is Who She's Always Been. (The New York Times)

In the self-congratulatory video that Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona made to announce that she was leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an ...

It’s likely to change again in just a few weeks.” She described McConnell as a friend, and he praised her as the “most effective first-term senator” he’d seen in his career. Instead, she spoke about not fitting into a box, being true to herself, and wanting to work, as she [told Politico](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/09/sinema-arizona-senate-independent-00073216), without the “pressures or the poles of a party structure.” “No matter what, I’m not going to base my decision off this false threat that she’s trying to put on,” he said, arguing that she doesn’t have enough support “to put together a coalition that will affect the Democratic nominee.” “To be your most fabulous political self, you’ll need to learn to recognize the bear and learn to let go of it in your work.” [essay](https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2022/12/09/sen-kyrsten-sinema-of-arizona-why-im-registering-as-an-independent/69712395007/) in The Arizona Republic and gave interviews to outlets including Politico and CNN. And Sinema insisted on narrowing the part of the law meant to bring down prescription drug prices, earning [criticism](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/joe-manchin-takes-jab-kyrsten-sinema-reining-drug-pricing-policy-rcna44033) even from Joe Manchin, the centrist West Virginia Democrat with whom she is frequently aligned. But Gallego, who said he will decide on running next year, insisted that the threat of Sinema acting as a spoiler won’t shape his decision. Had Republicans won the Senate, Sinema could have become an independent who caucused with Republicans, preserving her place in the majority. Her approach to elected office as a vehicle for the refinement of the self has not. One chapter was called “Letting Go of the Bear and Picking Up the Buddha,” with the bear representing fear and anger. [video](https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1601170136781664256?s=20&t=qL3qpnxrfiPFdQ3t6vh3xQ) that Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona made to announce that she was leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent, she didn’t mention any disagreements with her former caucus about issues. Instead, she framed the move as a step toward self-actualization.

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Image courtesy of "KOSU"

Week in politics: Democrats win Georgia; Kyrsten Sinema defects to ... (KOSU)

A win for Democrats in Georgia followed by a defection from the party, as Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announces that she's now an Independent.

He needs virtually every Republican to vote for him in order to reach the majority of the whole House. The Republican nominee for speaker, Kevin McCarthy, still lacks the votes he needs to win a majority of the whole House. So it looks like it's going to be a nasty start to the new year. And Sinema was already a hard vote for the Democrats to get on many issues, including the filibuster and Biden's spending bills. ELVING: He did a number of things right - a number of things that ought to be lessons for his party. But while he kept his focus on his core supporters, he was also reaching out to the more moderate voters among the Republicans, making it harder for opponents to demonize him. He focused on turnout in his base in the metro areas of the state, especially the megametro around Atlanta. And it's far from clear just who would be able to pick up the pieces. SIMON: Let's get to the Georgia runoff. ELVING: At this point, the Democrats don't think it needs to change that calculation much. So the AARP in Arizona ran a poll this fall showing Sinema was viewed unfavorably by more Democrats than Republicans or independents. Sinema still appears ready to organize with the Democrats.

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Kyrsten Sinema's defection without a difference (CNN)

The recent history of party-switching senators includes stories of moderates feeling abandoned, longtime politicians unwilling to face primary voters or ...

Charlie Crist, a moderate who felt out of place in the GOP, went from being a Republican governor in Florida to Democratic congressman. Sanders’ previous decision to run for president as a Democrat is evidence of how hard it is to be in national politics without a party. Angus King of Maine, a former Democrat, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, as lawmakers who aren’t technically Democrats but give Democrats their majority. McCain tried to fashion himself as a “maverick” who could buck the party system. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is the last Democrat standing in a state that during his lifetime was full of them. Sinema will be the first independent senator who isn’t from New England in more than a generation. Joe Lieberman, the moderate Democrat and former longtime senator, lost a Democratic primary in Connecticut in 2006, largely over his support for the Iraq war. Specter’s switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party briefly gave Democrats a filibuster-proof majority and allowed them to pass the Affordable Care Act. Specter left the GOP after realizing he wasn’t going to be able to win a primary. She’s simply exerting independence, as she told CNN’s Jake Tapper in announcing her departure from the Democrats. Bob Smith of New Hampshire left the GOP only to Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania across the aisle](https://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/) in 2009.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

Why Democrats won't punish Sinema's betrayal, at least for now (The Washington Post)

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is the latest figure to rile up the liberal base, but Democrats will be happy to keep her mostly in the fold.

[formally left the Democratic Party](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/09/kyrsten-sinema-independent/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11). [by winning Tuesday’s runoff](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/georgia-senate-runoff-results-walker-warnock/?itid=lk_inline_manual_26). But Connecticut had no sore-loser law, so Lieberman simply [ran as an independent](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2007/01/07/sen-lieberman-goes-his-independent-way-span-classbankheadhe-calls-for-substantial-troop-increase-in-iraqspan/27a2c7e3-6118-4088-a731-f8389c3c7937/?itid=lk_inline_manual_36) in the general election, while many Republicans backed away from their nominee. footprint in Iraq](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2007/01/07/sen-lieberman-goes-his-independent-way-span-classbankheadhe-calls-for-substantial-troop-increase-in-iraqspan/27a2c7e3-6118-4088-a731-f8389c3c7937/?itid=lk_inline_manual_34), just as he had done in his unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid. Chris Murphy (Conn.), had lined up a challenge, and Republicans eventually nominated a billionaire. Lieberman won in the general election by more than 10 percentage points with a coalition of many Republicans, centrists and a few Democrats. Reid, in one of his most prescient moves, figured he could get bigger things done with Lieberman inside the tent, annoying as he might be to some liberals. Lieberman (I-Conn.), the onetime Democratic vice-presidential nominee who had won a tough re [election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/?itid=lk_inline_manual_8) in 2006 as an Iraq War-supporting independent and then supported the GOP presidential nominee. That campaign drew liberal protesters, [including from a young, antiwar Arizonan](https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2003-03-24-0303240270-story.html) named Kyrsten Sinema. [didn’t represent Democratic](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/lieberman-must-go/) values. Schumer (D-N.Y.) the day before, but at the same time requested to retain the privileges of being a member of his caucus. “Years of counting votes in the Senate had taught me that you never take a vote for granted.”

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