Newly independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is being courted by Senate Republicans ahead of what would be a tough reelection campaign if she chooses to run next year.
(Bloomberg) — Newly independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is being courted by Senate Republicans ahead of what would be a tough reelection campaign if she chooses to run next year.
“As she knows, because I’ve conveyed this to her many times, we would welcome her in our caucus,” John Thune, the second-ranking Senate Republican said at the Capitol late Monday after Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego announced he would run for the Arizona seat in 2024 as a more liberal alternative to Sinema.
Thune said Sinema was welcome to stay an independent and caucus with Republicans or fully switch to the GOP, either of which would complicate, but not end, Democratic control of the chamber. A switch potentially could give her crucial party support ahead of any reelection bid, as backing from Democrats is uncertain with Gallego in the race.
“That invitation is always out there,” Thune said. “She’s going to have to figure out, one, if she’s going to run again, and two, if she is, if she is going to run as an independent, and it looks like that’s what she intends to do.”
After the 2022 elections, Democrats solidified their Senate majority with 51 seats, up from a 50-50 split, including Sinema and two other independents who also caucus with Democrats and are more closely aligned with the party — Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine.
Since declaring as an independent in December, Sinema has continued to align with Democrats on many issues and caucuses with them for purposes of Senate control, taking turns presiding over the chamber and keeping her committee assignments.
But Sinema triggered backlash from Democrats in her home state over her stances on taxes and keeping the Senate’s filibuster rule. As an independent, she would be spared from having to compete in a Democratic primary. After that, though, she’d have a tough road in a three-way race against a Democratic candidate and a Republican in the narrowly divided swing state.
Many Democratic senators Monday declined to say whether they’d support Sinema or Gallego, including fellow Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Many of them noted she hasn’t yet said whether she will run.
One who is behind her and said Democrats should back her if she runs: West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, her frequent ally. The duo last week high-fived in Davos, Switzerland, at a World Economic Forum panel over their mutual support for the filibuster rule, which thwarted assorted Democratic priorities including voting rights in the previous Congress.
The Senate seat from Arizona is rated a tossup by the Cook Political Report. It’s part of a very difficult political map for Democrats, in which they’ll be defending 23 seats, compared with 11 for Republicans.
Manchin has not decided whether to run again next year in a state where former President Donald Trump won in blowout fashion. Nor has Jon Tester of Montana, another state Trump won easily. Sherrod Brown is running for reelection in Ohio, a third Trump-won state.
Sinema’s top priority this year has been to forge a bipartisan deal to address the border and immigration, something that has eluded lawmakers for decades but is a major issue in her state. She recently took a bipartisan delegation to the border with Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a former GOP whip, in hopes of helping build a compromise.
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