Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema announced Tuesday she would not run for reelection in November, citing “anger and division” as one of the reasons why she has decided not to seek a second term in office.
Sinema, who was elected as a Democrat in 2018, announced she’d left the party and registered as an independent in late 2022.
On Tuesday, while highlighting bipartisan efforts she says have made the country safer, stronger and “more prosperous,” Sinema noted that in today’s political climate “compromise is [considered] a dirty word.”
“The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic attacking your opponents on cable news or social media,” she said in a three-minute video shared on her social media accounts.
“I believe in my approach, but it’s not what America wants right now,” Sinema added, explaining her decision to end her Senate career.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan measure that would impose tougher immigration laws and secure military aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Without the bill, which Sinema had been negotiating for months, it became clear her path to reelection would become substantially narrower — especially as the likely matchup between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake, a vocal election denier and prominent Trump supporter, begins to take shape.
Sinema, the nation’s first openly bisexual senator, drew praise from liberal Democrats in early 2019 for choosing not to hold a Bible during her swearing-in ceremony and for stating she was “religiously unaffiliated.”
During her first few months in office, however, Sinema found herself at odds with liberals and the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.
The former moderate Democrat would often vote against some of the party’s progressive priorities, such as voting with Republicans in 2022 against changing Senate filibuster rules to pass the voting rights bill — a move slammed by the Arizona Democratic Party as a “failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.”
“I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered,” Sinema said in the video. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”
With News Wire Services
