Sinema’s exit — along with Manchin and Romney — leaves 'massive hole for bipartisan deal-making': report

05 March 2024

With US Senator Kyrsten Sinema's (I-AZ) resignation announcement Tuesday, Arizona's Senate race will now only be between US Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and former newscaster and failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

An Axios report points to the fact that Sinema's exit "is the latest in a series of crushing blows to Senate bipartisanship, hollowing out a centrist core that has suffered under years of intensifying polarization."

Pointing to US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and US Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) — who both announced their exits from the Senate over the last few months — the news outlet notes Manchin, Romney and Sinema are all "moderates routinely vilified by their own parties" who "will leave a massive hole for bipartisan deal-making."

Axios reports, "Of the 10 senators who helped negotiate the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, four will be gone by next year."

Additionally, a fifth lawmaker, US. Jon Tester (D-MT) "faces a highly competitive re-election race in November that could determine control of the Senate," according to the report.

Since switching from Democrat to Independent in 2022, Sinema has faced staunch criticism from progressives, including being called "a sellout."

The Independent lawmaker supported the advancement of President Joe Biden's top priorities, Axis notes, "but when the political road got bumpy, the competitive triathlete wouldn't go the distance."

Several political experts, journalists and lawmakers responded to Sinema's announcement with words of celebration, calling it a "win" for activists and Democrats.

READ MORE: 'One of the greatest political implosions of my life': Experts extol 'corrupt egomaniac' Sinema’s exit

One former lawmaker, Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, (D) said, "Kyrsten Sinema’s legacy as a Senator will be that she upheld the filibuster, tanking legislation enshrining voting rights, reproductive rights, doubling child poverty by not expanding the Child Tax Credit, and killing raising the minimum wage increase."

In a Politico interview following Romney's exit announcement, Manchin commented, "You lose the center, you lose the moderates, you're screwed. You really are screwed. I'm hoping the voters will wake up."

Axios' full report is here.

From Your Site Articles