Sinema’s switch was long time coming for Dems
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema caught many by surprise earlier this month when she announced she was leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent, saying in a slickly produced video that the change is “a reflection of who I’ve always been.”
But the decision was months in the making, according to current and former aides and allies close to the senator from Arizona, and it reflected Sinema’s longtime dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. Her consternation deepened in recent years, said these people, who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The unhappiness has run in both directions and loomed over Sinema’s political future, prompting some critics to see a calculated ploy for survival in Sinema’s announcement. She is unpopular with Democrats back home following some high-profile partyline defections. Polls also suggested she could lose a Democratic primary if she sought reelection in 2024 a hurdle she would no longer need to clear as an independent.
Now Sinema, 46, has caused what many see as the first big potential political earthquake in the battle for the Senate in 2024. Her shift is the latest of several reinventions throughout her career, as she has climbed the ladder from Green Party activist to state and eventually federal lawmaker with far less liberal positions. Although she has not said whether she will run for a second term, Sinema’s most recent conversion carries significant ramifications in a key battleground.
“There are certainly some who have wanted me to fit into one box or the other,” Sinema said in an interview. “But I have never wanted to do that.”
Sinema had been weighing a departure from the Democratic Party for months, people familiar with the timing said. By the fall, planning was underway, even before she appeared in late September at the University of Louisville McConnell Center, where she defended her centrist brand of politics — and further enraged some liberals — with the Republican Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, looking on.
McConnell advises Sinema frequently, according to a person familiar with their relationship, and the two spoke about her decision to defend the legislative filibuster and other matters. “She and I talk all the time,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
High-ranking Democrats said they remained in the dark until just before she pulled the trigger. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., learned she would be leaving the party the day before she announced it, he said recently. White House aides have declined to say whether President Biden received a heads up, or how he reacted when he was told she would not be joining him on Air Force One for his visit to Arizona a few days before she broke the news.