Sinema sidesteps ‘chaos and drama’
In her first 6 months, Arizona senator is living up to her centrist reputation
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema made national headlines with her fur stole, pearl-studded dress and cheeky rapport with Vice President Mike Pence the she was sworn into the Senate.
Six months later, for many Arizonans, it remains the most memorable impression of her short tenure in the chamber.
Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, is comfortable outside the spotlight and even appears to avoid it. She doesn’t play the partisan attack game. That sometimes frustrates Democrats back home who want their senator to speak out forcefully against President Donald Trump. But away from the glare of the TV cameras and the noise of social media, she is quietly working, laying the foundation for relationships that she hopes will be long-term and consequential for Arizona.
Sinema has cultivated a brand as an almost apolitical figure willing to work with both sides of the aisle. She is famously friendly with nearly everyone on Capitol Hill, chatting with Republicans, marking birthdays of colleagues and landmark government institutions and searching for common ground “to get stuff done.”
Her most successful lawmaking pursuit so far would protect veterans from predatory loan practices — the president signed the bill on July 15. More than half of the six bills she has introday
duced have cleared committees of which she is not a member, a demonstration of her ability to build bipartisan coalitions around veterans issues.
“I really love the United States Senate because it’s a body that is built on relationships and trust,” Sinema told The Arizona Republic during a recent interview. “... A community that is built on relationships and trust is a place where I’m going to be able to deliver results for Arizonans on an everyday basis, and that’s something that I’m really excited about.”
Sinema’s voting record shows she has sided with her party on substantive policy votes that the Senate has taken up during the 116th Congress.
There aren’t many, given the realities of a divided government, where Democrats control the House of Representatives and Republicans rule the Senate under the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has refused to take up Democratic proposals from the House.
Given the Senate’s tight partisan margins, Sinema’s vote has not yet been crucial on any final piece of legislation.
Over the past six months, Sinema was far more likely to depart from the Democratic line on judicial and executive nominees, irking some in her party who expected her to “act like a Democrat” and zealously oppose conservative judges across the nation.
Her votes to confirm Trump nominees William Barr as attorney general and David Bernhardt as interior secretary stung many Democrats. Some even silently protested her during a recent Arizona Democratic Party fundraising dinner.
Sinema’s approach in considering judicial nominees reflects an earlier era where senators routinely deferred to home-state senators and a nominee’s qualifications and experience.
Carl Tobias, the Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law and an expert on judicial politics on Capitol Hill, said Sinema appears to be vigorously weighing judicial nominees rather than simply denying Republicans their nominees.
“She’s deferring probably more to the home-state senators, her colleagues, than she is to the president,” Tobias said of her record. “That’s appropriate. But I think she has a healthy skepticism when she sees that Democrats are very strongly opposed to someone, or the civil rights groups are. I think it’s pretty refined.”
Sinema won her historic 2018 Senate race in part by adhering to a strategy that appealed to the state’s moderates and oftentimes kept both parties at arms length.
She avoided weighing in on Trump’s constant stream of insults and comments and avoided reacting to the day’s political headlines.
Sinema was the state’s first female senator and the first Democrat in 30 years to win a Senate race in Arizona.
Her Senate style also reflects that strategy as she aims to be seen as a voice of moderation at a time of screeching partisanship.
Sinema’s low-key style has left some of her most ardent supporters disappointed that she hasn’t used her Senate perch to more forcefully emerge as a voice of moral clarity and to stand against Trump and his administration.
“It’s like she’s invisible,” said Carolyn Gip, a Democrat from Chandler. “I would say she probably needs to step out a little more — I would like to hear her speak up. She’s got to let people in Arizona know what’s going on and where she stands on some of these things.”
Don’t expect such criticism to alter Sinema’s ways.
“Before you start criticizing the strategy, you ought to say, whatever it is it’s worked,” said Bruce Oppenheimer, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.
Sinema often silent on big developments
Sinema stays away from the limelight, and has been slow to respond to daily news events, even momentous ones.
In March, Sinema refused to even issue a written statement about the summary results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited investigation into election meddling. Days later, she issued a statement thanking Mueller and his team for their work. She said portions of the report that are not classified or sensitive to national security should be made public.
Weeks later, on the day the Mueller report was released, Sinema declined to comment on it, saying she wanted to read the public version and less-redacted version of the 448-page report that would be given to Congress.
It took her weeks. Sinema said she did not support efforts to impeach the president — even though she still had not finished reading the report.
Then, she requested a private meeting with Barr. Her office initially would not say what she wanted to talk with him about or when the meeting would occur. Sinema later said she wanted to discuss “apparent discrepancies” between Barr’s testimony before a committee hearing about the report. She was “dismayed” that Barr recommended Trump invoke executive privilege to try to prevent members of Congress from receiving an unredacted version of the Mueller report.
After her meeting with Barr, she said in a written statement she would “not hesitate to hold administration officials accountable when they fail to meet their obligations. While other investigations are ongoing into the issues raised in the report, I will remain focused on getting things done for everyday Arizonans.”
Sinema has been what some view as overly cautious in reacting to Trump’s more inflammatory comments.
In 2017, within 24 hours of the deadly violence at a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Sinema decried any effort to compare white supremacists to those who peacefully opposed them, as Trump seemed to do. White supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison after driving a car into a crowd of protesters and killing Heather Heyer.
But she did not speak out against Trump’s recent racist tweets targeting four minority Democratic congresswomen who he said should “go back” to their countries. Three of four, who are informally known as “the Squad,” were born in the United States and the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Trump’s attack as racist.
Sinema treated that matter as she has most of Trump’s more intemperate outbursts — with silence.
‘She’s got a big, big dose of the politician genes working’
“There’s just a lack of communication and I have certainly felt she would have made a huge difference on the last racist comments with the ‘Squad,’ and that business,” said Ruth Lambert, 69, of Anthem, referencing the four House members.
“I do think she’s got a big, big dose of the politician genes working,” she added. “… She’s made some safe comments, but I expect more than safe comments from her.”
Expect Sinema to maintain her more reserved course when it comes to commenting publicly.
“As everyone knows, I am 100% focused on the needs of everyday Arizonans, and I refuse to be distracted by the pettiness and the partisanship that has invaded Washington,” she said. “... I promised Arizonans that I would never be a part of that typical Washington chaos and drama and I’m going to continue to stay focused, just like a laser, on the stuff that actually matters to the people in their everyday lives.”
Sinema’s voting record is moderate
Sinema’s Senate record is consistent with her relatively moderate voting record during her six years in the House of Representatives.
In the House, she also rarely parted party lines on the most contentious issues, such as the Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass tax cuts in 2017.
A Republic examination of Sinema’s Senate votes through July 14 showed 130 votes where McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., voted differently. Of those, Sinema voted the same as McConnell 63 times. She voted with Schumer 66 times. The analysis included all Senate votes, including procedural votes.
A similar analysis of her votes by ProPublica shows she has sided with Republicans and against a majority of Senate Democrats more than a quarter of the time. The typical Senate Democrat votes against his or her party 13% of the time.
Her voting record disappoints those on the edges of the political spectrum, but she is voting in line with Democrats more often than liberals would give her credit for.
“My goal is to find practical legislation that makes a difference for people,” Sinema said. A secondary consideration is whether the proposals can garner bipartisan support and be signed by the president.
A member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, she is able to focus on veterans, a top priority.
One of her bills would expand the American Legion’s membership eligibility. Trump is expected to sign that bill into law Tuesday.
Another Sinema bill is under consideration as part of negotiations over the defense bill. It would require the Defense Department and Red Cross to collect contact information of new service members’ loved ones to teach them about benefits and services available to military members after they return home.
Not reflected in Sinema’s voting record is work she says she is doing behind the scenes on issues ranging from the border crisis to the state’s water supply.
Alongside Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sinema is crafting a bipartisan proposal to create a plan to give new parents paid time off after the birth, adoption or fostering of a new child.
“We have an excellent working relationship,” Cassidy told The Republic earlier this year.
Some of Sinema’s work not reflected in votes
Some problems don’t need votes. When seniors from an RV community in Pinal County complained to her they could not get consistent cellphone service, Sinema was the only politician to respond to letters sent to members of Congress, and county and local leaders, said Larry Jordan, the community’s manager.
His wife launched a letter-writing campaign earlier this year. It was prompted after her husband’s calls to 911 kept dropping after she blacked out.
Sinema took the concern to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, where she has a seat.
Soon after, telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless met with her and said they would install a cell tower to service the park, which during peak season, is home to 850 people.
“Everybody in this park who has Verizon is tickled beyond belief,” said Jordan, an independent voter who did not vote for Sinema in 2018.
“I’m gonna tell you what, she’s gonna get a lot of more votes from this park” in her next election, he added.
On immigration, Sinema took credit for securing provisions in the recent $4.6 billion border bill to make sure it bolstered funding for more immigration judges, as well as more money for groups that are on the front lines helping with the crisis.
She cited her relationships with Republican Sens. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin and John Cornyn, of Texas as especially helpful.
Johnson, who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, told The Republic that Sinema’s welcoming personality and willingness to cross party lines has made her a pivotal player, particularly on border-security issues.
Sinema played a key role, Johnson said, in securing bipartisan support in July to urge the Trump administration to begin a pilot program dubbed “Operation Safe Return.”
The program aims to more quickly and accurately determine if those seeking asylum claims can be returned to Central America. Sinema signed onto the letter, along with other centrist Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones, of Alabama.
“In the United States Senate, a lot of stuff occurs staff-to-staff,” Johnson said. “What I’ve found in this issue is there’s an awful lot of senatorial involvement — hammering out the exact wording, getting agreements on some of the controversial issues. And she brought her immigration expertise and her personal attention to the table and was definitely helpful and important in terms of getting that bipartisan letter issued.”
Some Dems don’t like Sinema’s cooperation with GOP
Johnson also praised Sinema’s frequent willingness to side with Republicans on judicial and Cabinet nominees.
For that, Sinema has come under fire from local Democrats who say she should be thwarting all of Trump’s nominees — particularly judges whose appointments to the bench can last a lifetime.
“Every day, it seems like Trump is doing things and there are cases in the courts that go to the judges that were appointed by Trump,” said Nick Collins, a progressive activist and computer engineer from Ahwatukee. “I want her to stand up for what I think Democrats would believe in, and lead — and convince fellow Republicans to also take that stance.”
Collins, a member of the local chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, has grown increasingly exasperated with Sinema’s willingness to vote with Republicans.
“I don’t know if she’s going to switch her party sometime soon,” he said. “It seems like she’s hardly taking a Democratic stand.”
The website FiveThirtyEight presents a different view of her. Its “Trump tracker” shows Sinema voted against the president’s preferred positions on 14 of 16 key votes.
Sinema emphasizes the Senate’s “advise and consent” role when examining nominees.
She holds them to a three-part test that examines their qualifications, whether they believe in the mission of the agency or position to which they’re being appointed to, and whether will faithfully execute and uphold the law.
And she has no regrets on her judicial and executive votes, she says.
“Given the information that I had in every single one of these votes, I feel like I made the best decision with the knowledge I had at the time,” Sinema said.
Over opposition of liberal groups, Sinema sided with Republicans to confirm Richard Hertling and Ryan Holte to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Hertling avoided saying during his confirmation process whether the Supreme Court ruling that struck down state laws establishing segregation in public schools was correctly decided. The groups argued Holte was too young and inexperienced to serve on the court.
Along with two other Democrats, Sinema broke ranks with her party to confirm Kenneth Bell as U.S. district judge for the Western District of North Carolina. He was under fire for a 2016 opinion piece in which he argued for the prosecution for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for using a private email server.
On the president’s more controversial judicial appointments, Sinema stuck with Democrats.
For example, Sinema joined all voting Democrats to oppose Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who came under fire from civil rights groups for statements on LGBTQ and reproductive-rights issues. He was confirmed 52-46 to the federal bench in Texas.
And Sinema voted against Allen Winsor’s nomination to the U.S. District Court in Florida.
Among other things, Winsor, the former Florida solicitor general, came under fire by progressive and civil rights groups for his defense of the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages, which was eventually struck down. The Senate confirmed him 54-44.
‘She’s comfortable with it’: Independence getting noticed
Sinema has a mixed record on her votes on nominees to the San Franciscobased 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Arizona and which Trump has condemned as “disgraceful.”
The president is reshaping the traditionally more liberal bench with his seven confirmations on that court since taking office.
Sinema voted against three Trump nominees to the court and supported one — Bridget Bade. She was absent for a vote on Eric Miller because of a trip to New Zealand to compete in an Ironman race.
“She’s trying to be independent, but not to such an extent that she’s hurting her relationships with her other Democrats,” said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina. “It’s a nice balance that she’s trying to make there — it’s probably very hard, but that’s the case.”
Former three-term Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., who dispatches advice to Sinema and other Democrats on how to win in the traditional red state of Arizona, said Sinema’s independence has caught the attention of members of both sides of the aisle.
“She’s figured it out, politically, and I think she’s comfortable with it,” DeConcini said. “It’s one thing to put yourself in a position of however you’re going to vote because you think it’s a way to get reelected. But you’ve got to be comfortable with it. And I think she’s comfortable with it.”