Ariz. Democrat’s playbook: Keep right
Senate hopeful says she gains from compromise
PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-ariz., says Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that some in her party are clamoring to abolish, is performing an “important function.” She recently joined House Republicans in voting to ease restrictions on banks. And she offered a decidedly nonpartisan comment on conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
The third-term congresswoman has come a long way from her days as a Green Party activist as she tries to become the first Democrat to represent Arizona in the Senate in 30 years.
It’s a notable strategy in an election year in which many Democrats see a path to victory by tapping into the outrage of the party’s base in the Trump era. In Nevada, for instance, Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen aims to flip a seat held by Republican Sen. Dean Heller, and she seized on the high court vacancy to highlight the threat to abortion rights.
Some Arizona Democrats are frustrated that the 42-year-old Sinema hasn’t taken similarly aggressive stances.
Ken Wixon, a lifelong Democrat, said he planned to back Sinema’s Democratic opponent, Phoenix activist Deedra Abboud, in the Aug. 28 primary.
“I supported (Sinema) before, but she’s too easily influenced,” Wixon said.
Sinema said her shift to the right is the result of learning to work with others in a hyperpartisan Congress.
Sinema is favored to win the primary and is seen as a competitive candidate in a general election that could hinge on how voters feel about President Donald Trump. That’s why some Democrats are willing to back her even if her liberalism has limits.
“The alternative is far worse,” said Steven Slugocki, Democratic chairman in Maricopa County.
That alternative, to Slugocki, is any of the Republicans vying to succeed retiring, one-term Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a Trump critic. The field includes former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a crusader against illegal immigration who was convicted for contempt of court related to racial profiling and pardoned by Trump, and Kelli Ward, a state senator endorsed last year by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.