Kyrsten Sinema's antics may come back to cripple her political future — here's why

According to a CNN election analyst, Sen. Krysten Sinema's grandstanding and obstructionism on infrastructure negotiations may come back to haunt the Arizona Democrat because she is misreading her strength in her home state that is becoming more liberal than she is aware.

As CNN's Harry Enten writes, Arizona is not West Virginia -- home to her conservative Democratic ally Sen. Joe Manchin -- and she won't get the same pass his constituents will extend to him.

Particularly if she derails the massive financial package that President Joe Biden wants to sign, he explained.

"Sinema has, for the last few years, had the same ideological record as Manchin. As I've noted before, Manchin's ideological record is about the best Democrats can hope for from West Virginia," Enten wrote. "But Democrats can hope for more from an Arizona Democrat. Their party has a much easier time winning in Arizona than West Virginia."

For evidence, the polling expert notes that, "President Joe Biden won the state of Arizona by 0.3 points. West Virginia, unlike Arizona, is a red state. Biden lost the state by 39 points. This came after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lost the state by more than 40 points in 2016. Arizona, on the other hand, is purple and has been chugging to the left. Biden did 4 points better than Clinton, who in turn did 6 points better than Barack Obama in 2012."

That, he claims is not a factor in Sinema's favor if she continues to occupy the far-right of the Democratic Party.

As for her purported desire to be a "maverick" within her own party -- similar to the late Sen. John McCain (R) -- Enten stated Sinema is no John McCain in the eyes of the voters of her state.

"If she's trying to copy McCain's ways, Sinema isn't doing a great job. McCain usually voted with his party. In his final full year in the Senate, he voted with his party more than 90% of the time on party unity votes (i.e. those where at least 50% of one party voted a different way from 50% of the other party). This was about on par for him. McCain voted with his party less than the median senator, but not that much less," he wrote. "There is one way though in which Sinema is similar to McCain: She's upsetting her party's base. By voting the way she does, Sinema may be leaving herself open to a primary challenge -- a possibility certain liberal groups are already eyeing."

According to the analyst, the first-term senator may be painting herself into a corner she may never get out of.

"Unlike Manchin, who has beaten back primary challenges easily, Sinema isn't going to face a primary electorate where less than 40% of registered Democrats call themselves liberal," he reported before warning, "The bottom line is that Sinema may be unnecessarily moderate for her own electoral good. Maybe it'll work out for her. Still, It's possible though that not only is she making Biden's life more difficult, but her own electoral future more difficult as well."

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