Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced Tuesday that she will not seek reelection this year.
The Democrat-turned-independent cited Washington dysfunction as her primary reason to bow out of Congress, but the first-term senator faced long odds against winning another six-year term in a field featuring opponents from both parties.
“The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic, attacking your opponents on cable news or social media. Compromise is a dirty word,” Ms. Sinema said in a video statement. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”
Arizona is among the battleground states that could determine control of the Senate, with Democrats currently holding a razor-thin one-seat majority that includes Ms. Sinema.
Her exit from the race, which comes ahead of the April 1 filing deadline, offers Democrats a sigh of relief. They can now focus on Democratic frontrunner Rep. Ruben Gallego’s likely race against Republican Kari Lake. Polls showed Ms. Sinema trailed far behind in three-way matchups with Mr. Gallego and Ms. Lake, though she threatened to siphon key support from both candidates.
Soon after Ms. Sinema bowed out, Mr. Gallego invited her to help him campaign against Ms. Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate and close ally of former President Donald Trump.
“Protecting abortion access, tackling housing affordability, securing our water supply, defending our democracy — all of this and more is on the line,” he said in a statement. “That’s why Democrats, independents and Republicans alike are coming together and rejecting Kari Lake and her dangerous positions. I welcome all Arizonians, including Senator Sinema, to join me in that mission.”
Ms. Lake lauded Ms. Sinema for having “the courage to stand tall against the far-left in defense of the filibuster — despite the overwhelming pressure from the radicals in her party like Ruben Gallego who called on her to burn it all down.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, whose job is to get Senate Democrats elected, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Sinema was elected in 2018 as the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona in decades. She left the party in 2022, rejecting partisan politics and registering as an independent. However, she’s continued to caucus with Democrats, allowing them to maintain their narrow 51-49 Senate majority.
Ms. Sinema‘s moderate stances and resistance to the left-wing dogma, including her support for the filibuster and her opposition at times to President Biden’s agenda, has made her a political punching bag for Mr. Gallego and progressive groups like the Change for Arizona 2024 PAC that dubs itself the Replace Sinema PAC.
“Sinema obstructed President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, got in the way of fundamental rights like abortion care and voting, and did the bidding of her wealthy donors who fund her luxury lifestyle,” the PAC said. “We succeeded in first pushing her out of the party – by making clear she couldn’t win a Democratic primary – and now we’ve also helped push her out of the Senate.”
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.