Signs of Sinema run for Senate?
Democrat says no decision yet
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema says she is weighing a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Jeff Flake, but there are ample signs she has already decided to do so.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has had discussions with both Sinema, D-Ariz., and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton — who’s widely viewed as another possible Democratic Senate candidate — about who will challenge Flake in 2018.
The powerful Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, meanwhile, has indicated it is supporting Sinema in the race, according to a source who is familiar
with those discussions but isn’t authorized to speak officially about Democratic strategy. That decision would not typically be made unless Sinema intended to run.
In a statement Friday, Sinema, who is traveling outside the state, sidestepped giving a definitive answer.
“I’ve heard from many Arizonans encouraging me to run for the United States Senate. It is something I am seriously considering. When I make any decisions, Arizonans will be the first to know,” said Sinema, a three-term congresswoman.
The statement is a departure from her usual message: that she is running for re-election.
Stanton has weighed running for Senate — or for Sinema’s U.S. House seat, if she runs for Senate. He recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the DSCC, but he declined to comment on his political plans.
Republicans also expect Sinema to enter the Senate race, releasing a statement Friday about their improved chances in her district.
“The (National Republican Congressional Committee) not only believes this seat is in play, but is a prime pickup opportunity in 2018,” said Matt Gorman, a spokesman for the organization.
Her entry in the Senate race would break a mounting political logjam for Arizona Democrats sizing up their prospects for 2018.
Steve Ferrara, a Republican radiologist who worked in the VA, is already running in Sinema’s district and raised more than $200,000 in his first month in the race.
Senate. It is something I am seriously considering. When I make any decisions, Arizonans will be the first to know.”
Democrats see opportunity
obsessively casts herself as a problemsolver looking to get things done in Washington.
Arizona’s Senate race has drawn national attention, in part because it represents one of the few plausible seats Democrats could win from Republicans next year. Twenty-five of the 34 Senate seats on the ballot in 2018 are currently held by Democrats, limiting that party’s prospects for retaking control of the upper chamber.
Nevada’s Sen. Dean Heller is the only Republican facing re-election in a state that Hillary Clinton won last year. Flake, who is in his first term, is widely seen as the next-most vulnerable Republican senator.
Flake is already battling former state Sen. Kelli Ward for the GOP nomination next year.
Several polls have shown voters give Flake poor marks, and Trump has threatened to help finance a primary challenger, though it is unclear if he will follow through.
Still, only political novice Deedra Abboud has formally entered the race for the Democrats.
Randy Friese, a state representative from Tucson, has been considering a run for the U.S. Senate as well. Little-known Richard Sherzan of Mesa, a former Iowa legislator who made a short-lived 2016 Senate run that ended more than a year before the Democratic primary, also says he’s running.
Sinema has made veterans’ care a focus of her tenure in Congress and burnished her reputation for working across the aisle. At the same time, no one considers the VA hospital system in Phoenix free of the problems that have plagued it for years.