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US: Az Senator going independent means goodbye to Dems' 51-49 edge

The centrist Sinema has repeatedly blocked Biden's progressive initiatives

Just when US President Joseph Biden had clinched a 51-49 Upper House advantage, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema Friday announced she was leaving the Democratic Party and going “independent.”

 Earlier last week, Senator Raphael Warnock’s reelection victory in Tuesday’s runoff against Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia had handed the Democrats their short-lived absolute majority. In case of a new tie, Democrats might again need to rely on Vice-President Kamala Harris' vote.

“In a natural extension of my service since I was first elected to Congress, I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent,” Sinema, 46, wrote on Twitter Friday.

“Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she added.

“In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought,” she wrote in the Arizona Republic newspaper Friday. “Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress. Payback against the opposition party has replaced thoughtful legislating.”

“Most Arizonans believe this is a false choice, and when I ran for the U.S. House and the Senate, I promised Arizonans something different,” she wrote. “I pledged to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama,” she also pointed out on social media.

Sinema also said in an interview with Politico that she would neither caucus with the Republican Party nor attend Senate Democrats’ weekly meetings. “I’m not running for president,” she added.

“I’m just not worried about folks who may not like this approach,” she said in a TV interview. “What I am worried about is continuing to do what’s right for my state.”

One of the three centrist Senate Democrats to often block Biden’s agenda, including the US$ 3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill, Sinema will be up for reelection in 2024, as will be Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, who have also questioned the President's initiatives.

“Kyrsten is independent; that’s how she’s always been,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “I believe she’s a good and effective Senator and I'm looking forward to a productive session in the new Democratic majority Senate. We will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power, and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes,” he also pointed out.

Sinema thus becomes the third independent to sit in the Senate, joining Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who nevertheless currently caucus with the Democrats. Sinema is also the first Senate Democrat to become an independent since Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who eventually went on to win reelection as an independent candidate before retiring from the Senate.