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March 05, 2024 12:00 PM UTC

Arizona's Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Bows Out

  • 11 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).

We interrupt our coverage of Colorado political news for this big story from our caddy-corner neighbor to the southwest: Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who disaffiliated from the Democratic Party after emerging as a major roadblock to the Senate majority’s agenda two years ago, will retire instead of running for another term. Washington Post:

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) announced she will not seek reelection this year, avoiding an unpredictable three-way race in the swing state that had many national Democrats worried about holding onto the seat.

“I believe in my approach, but it’s not what America wants right now,” Sinema said in a video announcing her plans.

She listed several bipartisan accomplishments but said “compromise is a dirty word” in the current system, and that her political style was no longer appreciated.

Sinema earned the ire of liberal Democrats for consistently second-guessing legislation supported by the majority, considered a major betrayal of her base from a politician who once ran on a much more progressive platform. Sinema’s departure sets up a clean two-way race between Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican serial election denier Kari Lake, which is a big boost to Democratic chances of taking/holding the seat.

History will remember Sinema as a politician who broke some barriers, but in the end her attempts to please both sides left Sinema without a majority coalition. The goodwill Sinema essentially purchased from Republicans with her intransigence when her party desperately needed unity would never have translated into votes, while her alienation of the Democratic base deprived Sinema of her own necessary core of support.

Sinema could have been more than a cautionary tale. But that’s the fate she chose.

Comments

11 thoughts on “Arizona’s Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Bows Out

  1. I've seen a pretty constant stream of graphics showing Lake with like a 6% lead over Gallegos, but Sinema also polling somewhere in the teens. So, getting away from the 3-way split seems promising.

  2. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, Kyrsten!

    This means that Gallego should win unless something truly untoward were to happen between now and November.

    1. She is such a strange bird. She started her political career 20 or so years ago an activist in the Green Party. (Yes, in the days following Ralph Nader's eventful 2000 presidential race, she was part of the migration into the Green Party.)

      When she saw that getting her nowhere, she became a Dem and got elected to a House seat. 

      As some of you know, I am not a hard leftist but even I took umbrage at her games of footsie with right wing Republicans and major corporate interests. You dance with the one who brought, as the saying goes. A lot of people in Ariozna busted their asses to get her elected only for her to piss on their Cherrios. 

      As Cromwell said, "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

      1. Agreed. I know a handful of people who worked their asses off for her only to have her turn on them. She’s served more than five years so she’s eligible for pension at some point although it’s doubtful she’ll need it given there’s likely a seven-figure salary lurking for her from somewhere in the bowels of the “machine”. 

        1. Yes. Time to get paid for all of the obstruction she successfuly accomplished. Too bad about all the people she materially harmed, but she'll be a-ok.

        2. There are persistent rumors about Congressional pensions.  These days, Senators are covered under the standard FERS plan.  As with most defined benefit plans, there are mandatory contributions from salary and employer matching contributions.

          "Under the current pension law, the size of the pension is based on the highest three years of a member's salary, the number of years of service and a multiplier, which is 1.7% for the first 20 years of service."

          PolitiFact says "A three-term congressman (or one-term senator) who has now reached retirement age [62] would be eligible for an annual pension of $17,745 for six years of work. That's generous, but not close to full pay."

          1. It's the ability to consult, lobby, and essentially get paid for doing nothing that is the real pension for the ex-congressional officeholders

    1. She and Bimbobert are going to go on a road trip a la Thelma and Louise all over the southwest, racking up tons of miles for which she will bill her campaign account for reimbursement.

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