Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party to register as an independent, thus leaving a formation in which she has repeatedly frustrated the most progressive elements of the party by rejecting the adoption of some of the most important initiatives. Presented by the White House.
“I have registered as an independent for Arizona. I know that there are people who are going to be a little surprised but I think it makes a lot of sense, because I have never fit comfortably in any party,” Sinema said in an interview with CNN, broadcast late on Thursday.
Sinema’s departure will not affect, the chain’s experts estimate, the new composition of the US Senate, where the Democrats will enjoy, thanks to the re-election of their senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia, a tight majority of 51 to 49 seats thanks to to the support of independent senators Bernie Sanders (Vermont), one of the icons of Democratic progressivism, and Angus King (Maine).
Both Sinema and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have acted in recent months as obstacles to the adoption of White House bills such as the Build Back Better economic boost plan or the elimination of the figure of the filibuster in the Senate, earning Sinema a reprimand from her own Arizona Democratic party.
“For me, the decision to disengage from the party structure is not only an exercise in honesty with myself and my way of being, but it will provide a refuge for many people in the country who are tired of partisanship,” he added.
Sinema, who evaded answering questions about his possible re-election or his support for Biden ahead of the 2024 elections, ended up defending his work in the Senate as “a leader of historic efforts in infrastructure projects, protection of religious liberties, gun control or help war veterans”:
“The list is really long and I think the results speak for themselves, so it’s okay that some are not comfortable with my way of acting,” he concluded.
