Sinema shifts Right
as Arizona goes Pure Periwinkle
One really cannnot blame Senator Kyrsten Sinema for dealigning herself with the Democratic Party. There is nothing worse than losing in a primary after serving one term in office. Just ask Jeff Flake.
That’s not really fair. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) was hounded from a primary reelection bid by then President Donald Trump (and his supporters). Flake’s sin was in opposing Trump about 4% of the time and being open about his criticisms of Trump.
And people in Arizona, hardcore Trumpists nothwithstanding, liked Jeff Flake. Sinema suffers from a level of friendlessness that may be immeasurable. Moderates never make anyone happy enough.
Sinema, who has always been a moderate, was been open as to why she is not a Republican — they would not have her due to her liberal stances on social policy issues and her open bi-sexuality. Without the latter, Sinema would be in good company with the Senate GOP moderates Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
The reason for Sinema’s for registering as an independent is simple — she is likely to lose a primary run in 2024. Unlike Flake, Sinema’s knife wound is self-inflicted. She along with Senator Joe Manchin (R-WV) have been thorns in the sides of the Biden Adminstration’s agenda on several fronts.
Manchin’s response to President Biden’s pleas has always been a combination of “Have you been to my barn red state?” and wheeling and dealing self interest. Sinema, on the other hand, has played the corporate interests’ silent partner in impeding President Biden. With Manchin, Biden and others always knew what might move the West Virginia Democrat to vote like a Democrat. With Sinema, it was a different story — she was not coy about her corporate ties and refused, largely, to demand any sort of home state spending to get her vote.
Sinema’s move has been a long time coming. Should she lose and a Democrat win her Senate seat, it will be the biggest miscalculation since Senator John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008.
Why?
Of the two states that have been the political assassins of Donald Trump’s attempts at Julius Caesar-like triumph; Arizona has, of late, been the more Brutus-like.
In 2018, Arizona elected Sinema. In 2020, Mark Kelly won a special Senate election and Biden took the Grand Canyon State with a plurality. And this past election, Mark Kelly won a full Senate term and Katie Hobbs bested far Right Kari Lake (and noted election denier) for the governorship.
The Grand Canyon State has shifted into a very periwinkle reality — something noted here back in January.1
Of course, there is always the chance Sinema could win, but with her huge negatives among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, changing her political identification without a change in her votes is unlikely to move the political needle.
And should the Republicans win her seat in 2024, the Democrats will blame her and her few supporters much like supporters of the Republic blamed Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
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