Senator Kyrsten Sinema is clearly her own person and can be counted on to come up with some engaging quotes. She is one of the moderates who, like Joe Manchin, became independent after the Democratic Party moved its Overton window so far to the left that it would have made Leon Trotsky dizzy; She is not easily influenced on most political matters, but has no problem speaking up when asked a question. Whether you agree with her or not, she is always open.
Now she’s leaving the Senate, and in a few parting words she has a lot to offer blunt words for her critics.
Sen. Christmas cinema (I-Ariz.) on Friday rejected recent scrutiny from her Democratic colleagues as the Arizona lawmaker prepares to end her first and only term in the upper chamber.
Sinema, who has decided against running for office As she ran for re-election earlier this year, she faced her latest wave of opposition from the left after she and Sen. Joe Manchin (IW.Va.) blocked the renomination from Lauren McFerran to the National Labor Relations Board, which gave Republicans the opportunity to control the body under President-elect Trump.
In an exit interview When Semafor was released on Friday, Sinema waved off opposition, saying she “did not back down.”
You can like a person’s style even though you disagree with their politics. That would be the case here. Sinema has courage:
“I know some people think I’m some kind of enigma or whatever, but I don’t think that’s true at all,” Sinema told Semafor. “I think maybe this is a place where sometimes people say things they don’t mean. I’m not one of those people…I think I’m very predictable.”
Both Sinema and Manchin began their terms as Democrats but left the party after facing widespread anger from the party for blocking some liberal priorities President Biden, in part through mighty support of the Senate filibuster.
Perhaps the best thing Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema did in their political careers was support the filibuster, and we should all learn a lesson from that. While this could be changed by changing Senate rules — it’s not in the Constitution and there’s no law protecting the filibuster — it still serves an vital purpose. It is the last remaining vestige of the Senate’s original role as a “cooling saucer” to composed the passions of public sentiment. Requiring a supermajority as a bottleneck is crucial to prevent things from becoming downright capricious, which we cannot afford.
See related: Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin are leaving Joe Biden a final parting gift, and Democrats are furious
Biden’s final Labor stand: Honoring the first female labor secretary and shoring up his failed one
On the topic of the recent election, Sen. Sinema was a little less forthcoming:
Ruben Gallego (D), a retired Marine and longtime U.S. House representative, will take over Sinema’s Senate seat after he hit Republican candidate Kari Lake. Sinema was hesitant to talk about what kind of senator she thinks Gallego will be during her Semafor interview.
She also declined to say who she voted for in the presidential election.
I won’t speculate on the last question. As for her reluctance to talk about her replacement or her vote (which is nobody’s business anyway), one might suspect that she isn’t quite done with politics yet.
See related: Finally we have an answer. Ruben Gallego wins Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat.
