Judy: Democrats now have an
asterisk on their 51-seat
majority in the U.S.
Senate, with Arizona's Kyrsten
Sinema announcing that she will
switch her party affiliation
from Democrat to independent.
She will be the third
independent senator, joining
senators Bernie Sanders and
Angus king, who both caucus with
Democrats.
Sinema has at times sparred with
Democrats, but today the white
house called her a "Key partner"
on issues, and said, "We have
every reason to expect that we
will continue to work
successfully with her."
Here to assess what this means
for the Democrats' agenda in the
senate and for Arizona politics
are our capitol hill
correspondent Lisa Desjardins,
and from newshour west in
Phoenix, Stephanie sy.
Hello to both of you.
Lisa, I'm going to start with
you.
Does this mean for the senate
and what does it mean for what
Democrats want to get done?
Lisa: If you think of this is a
political earthquake, which is
what this felt like for a few
minutes of this morning, it is
more of a tremor about the
future, a signal about what is
going to happen ahead.
It hasn't really changed the
landscape in congress.
Sinema will allow Democrats to
still have 51 votes for how they
organize the senate.
The committee structure will
stay the same.
They will be able to subpoena
witnesses, move nominees more
quickly than they could in the
50-50 senate, and she will
retain her spots on committees,
at least two subcommittee
chairmanships.
While she is being clear she is
not caucusing with Republicans,
she has not gone to democratic
caucus meetings in the past.
She is not someone who
participated in those meetings,
and she is not going to in the
future.
So she is not exactly in the
democratic caucus.
She just votes with the most of
the time.
As far as one other senator we
are watching, Joe Manchin of
West Virginia, who was also
voted with Republicans at time,
my reporting is we should not
expect him to make a similar
move to be independent, though
he has in the past made
overtures and indicated he is
willing to shift under the right
circumstances.
We don't expect them to do that.
One reason, the politics in west
Virginia are very different.
It is harder to run for the
senate in West Virginia as an
independent.
Also, he is a member of the
senate democratic leadership
right now.
Judy: Very different situations.
Also interesting.
Stephanie, remind us what Sinema
'S political history is.
How did she get to this place?
Stephanie: The timing of this
announcement may be surprising,
may have felt like an earthquake
in Washington, but for those who
have observed Kyrsten Sinema the
last few years, this was not
entirely surprising.
I was reminded how much anger
there is directed at senator
Sinema by Democrats.
I spoke to several Arizona
voters today who reminded me of
a couple really last year when
senator Sinema was being
ambushed at her office at the
airport, on flights, even in
bathrooms because of her
position on deciding she wanted
the filibuster to remain intact.
What that meant is the Biden
administration and many
Progressive Democrats would not
be able to pass the type of
legislation they thought they
would be.
Another Democrat said she has
been a fake Democrat.
There has been a lot of anger
directed at her from base
Democrats here in Arizona.
The Arizona democratic party
censured her.
Today, the party issued a
scathing statement saying that
"She has shown she answers to
operations and billionaires."
The way a lot of people here are
seeing this move, one political
watcher probably put it best.
He said, senator Sinema's move
today was the equivalent of
breaking up with a partner
before they break up with you.
Judy: Really interesting to get
that much criticism from the
Democrats.
Stephanie, how do her politics
now fit in to Arizona's
politics?
Stephanie: Remember, Judy, that
Kyrsten Sinema won her senate
seat here in Arizona, becoming
the first Democrat in decades to
win a senator's seat by saying
she would be the independent
voice of Arizona, and she has
continued to parrot that phrase
in her media interviews with
local reporters today.
She said what she is doing
reflects where Arizona voters
are.
To some degree, that is seen in
the statistics.
Let me show you how Arizona
voters Rick down.
The most number of registered
voters are with the Republican
party, but the second largest
group of voters here are
independents.
That group has grown vastly.
That is followed by Democrats.
Democrats who are too far left
have a hard time winning general
elections, which is why the
other democratic senator of
Arizona junior senator
mark Kelly, one his election
against a Republican by touting
his Independence from the Biden
administration.
Some might say Kyrsten Sinema is
being strategic.
She denies that.
That remains a question.
It is not clear that she is
going to go for a second term in
2020 or.
But one democratic consultant
said if she does it would be
tough for her because she does
not have that democratic race
anymore.
There are -- democratic base
anymore.
Our a lot of Democrats unhappy
with her.
There was a poll that showed
more than half of
independents do not view her
favorably.
Judy: Interesting.
Lisa, looking ahead, who stands
to gain from this, including
Sinema herself, and how?
Lisa: That is the question, is
she going to run in 2024?
Until this moment, I was not
sure she was going to.
This move makes me think she is
at least keeping that option
open because she would most
certainly have a democratic
primary challenger perhaps
blocking her from getting on the
ballot in November, and we know
who that is, Ruben Gallego.
He had something to say about
this switch today.
He wrote, "Unfortunately,
senator Sinema is putting her
own interests ahead of getting
things done for arizonans."
He has not announced for senate
yet, but he has
indicated he is interested.
We might have Kyrsten Sinema
trying to maintain her viability
to run again, but it is a
problem with Democrats because
if they have her as an
independent, ga asllego Democrat
-- Gallego as a Democrat, that
could split the vote.
Judy: We are looking at this
from all angles.
Thank you Lisa Desjardins,
Stephanie sy.