BREAKING NEWS: US Senator Kyrsten Sinema has left the Democratic Party…What are your thoughts on this?

[Anonymous]

Picture from article below

Reference article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/arizona-sen-kyrsten-sinema-leaves-democratic-party-registers-independent

Note - I have a related question posted on GAG: How many total US Senate seats will the REPUBLICANS have after the 2022 mid-term election results are completely in?

Updates

+1 y

Why do you think she REALLY changed parties?…

Did she do this for IDEOLOGICAL reasons, or did she do this for PRACTICAL REASONS?…such as maybe…

She became an Independent to gain leverage with and/or “mute” some of the Democrats; or she knows as @normalice said: “She would be primaried otherwise” / as @NamerOfStars said: “to avoid losing the upcoming primary”; or she did this for some other reason?

[LiamJHayden]

The state party has been threatening to primary her. This gives her a lot of power, because she can does whatever she wants. If she votes for Schumer, which is likely, she will be rewarded with keeping her committee assignments. If she votes for McConnell, the Senate returns to 50-50, meaning parity on every committee and McConnell will give her any committee assignment she wants.

The real issue is what this means for 2024. She is pretty popular, but in a three way statewide race in Arizona between her, a Democrat, and a Republican, the split would probably give the Republican the win. She knows this and might switch all the way before the 2024 primaries. Or this is a threat to get the left of the DNC to back off, after which she'll return. Time will tell.

[BCA6010]

Don't be fooled; she's doing it for herself.

[Asker]

What are the reasons why she is doing this?

[BCA6010]

She is a textbook example of a "finger in the wind" politician who just stands for whatever is popular in the moment. She originally ran for her seat as a radical far-leftist despite being a relatively moderate Democrat on paper with her voting record. More importantly however, the recent midterm election in Arizona as well as the Twitter file dumps have turned into a huge debacle exposing corruption in the state with lawsuits underway, and it's politically convenient for her to distance herself from it as much as possible. Since she voted against her own party on a couple major bills, it's also very likely that the DNC is threatening to have her replaced, which she believes (probably correctly) would be easier to prevent by cutting ties. This also puts her in a favorable position nationally since both parties will be looking to kiss her ass for her vote in the Senate.

[Asker]

Nice exposition.
Concerning you saying she is “a relatively moderate Democrat on paper with her voting record,” I heard a pundit say this very thing: that she has a pretty even for-with/against her party voting record.

[NamerOfStars]

Well, while I'm loath to trust Fox News, apparently even they have started putting EMEs on their website; unfortunate, but not surprising. She claims her reasons are an objection to political polarization- that's good. Detractors claim she's doing it to avoid losing the upcoming primary. I guess we'll see. The cries for recalling her based on this do NOT make Arizona Democrats look good; not only is that not allowed on the Federal level, but being pulled from power just for bucking the Party line? Yeah, that's pretty Orwellian.

You're the only state that's had the brains AND the guts to keep Daylight Saving Time out, Arizona- stay classy.

[Asker]

What’s an EME?

[NamerOfStars]

Encrypted media extension. It's an aspect of HTML5. Basically, if you're not using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or whatever they're calling Internet Explorer these days, parts of a webpage- sometimes the page itself- won't load. Microsoft tried this back in 1995, and it outraged people so quickly that they dropped it (it wasn't part of the antitrust lawsuit; unless it was a timing issue, I have no idea why not); when Microsoft, Apple, and Google try it today, the notably less discerning consumer base doesn't care.

[LiamJHayden]

She announced it on Jake Tapper on CNN. I am not high enough level to share the link but a quick search will find it.

[Cubus]

That won't change anything. Sanders and King are also Independents and they vote with Democrats.

[Asker]

Ok, but why do you think she became an Independent?

[Anonymous]

I hope people are really not stupid enough to be fooled by this.

[Asker]

What do you mean?

[normalice]

It's pretty much her only chance for reelection in 2024. She would be primaried otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Not surprising why would anyone want to be in the party responsible for the following?

[gorydetails]

Sounds like she did a good thing.

[Asker]

Why do you think it’s good?

[gorydetails]

The democrat party is a shit show. As is the republican party.

[Anonymous]

I like what she did, but it could cost her.

[Asker]

What do you like about what she did?

[Opinion Owner]

I liked. It.