In the future, the senator will appear as a non-party independent.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Washington In 2018, Kyrsten Sinema became the first Arizona Democrat to enter the US Senate in decades. At the time, she was celebrated by her party, and her victory was considered a breakthrough in a deeply republican state.
But this relationship is fraught with conflict. Now Sinema has drawn consequences – and wants to fill out her mandate as a non-party independent in the future. “I’ve never fit into a political category. And I’ve never really tried because I don’t want to fit in,” she told CNN.
Sinema announces her move a few days after a key runoff election in the state of Georgia. There, Senator Raphael G. Warnock had defended his seat for the Democrats. This means that US President Joe Biden’s party should have had a majority of 51 to 49 in the hundred-strong Senate from January. So far, the Democrats have held 50 seats and have only been able to pass legislation with the help of US Vice President Kamala Harris, who can also vote in a stalemate.
Sinema’s decision doesn’t change the fact that Democrats continue to control the Senate. But the majority is now less comfortable, Sinema’s departure brings new uncertainty in the distribution of seats.
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Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine are also registered as independents. But you count yourself among the Democrats and are part of the so-called “Democratic Caucus”, the parliamentary group of Democrats. Sinema suggested she wanted to do things similar to Sanders and King. She ruled out a change of party to the Republicans.
Divided Congress makes it difficult for Biden to govern
The centrist Sinema has often blocked Biden government projects in recent years. This often happened in tandem with Joe Manchin, a Democratic Senator from the conservative state of West Virginia. For example, Biden had to give up minimum wage increases and corporate tax hikes because Sinema and Manchin didn’t go along with it.
Elsewhere, however, the party rebels helped the president achieve successes, for example with an infrastructure package and investments in green energies. The House of Representatives, the second chamber of Congress, will be Republican-governed beginning in January. In the Senate, however, Democrats can still chair committees, block Republican legislation, and appoint judges and diplomats.
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Sinema’s move highlights the problems of the rigid two-party system in the United States. After all, according to the Gallup Institute, a third of Americans do not clearly identify with a party. “Americans are being told that they only have two choices — Democrats or Republicans — and that we must fully embrace the political views,” Sinema said. “This is throwing our country more and more into extremes.”
The 46-year-old, who has Dutch ancestry and regularly competes in the Iron Man competition, left her political future open. In 2024 there will be a new election in your state. She ruled out only one possibility: “I’m not applying for the presidential candidacy.”
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