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

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."

READ MORE: Kyrsten Sinema blasts partisanship in retirement announcement: 'Compromise is a dirty word'

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.

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."

READ MORE: Romney’s departure may wipe out US Senate’s 'ideological center'

Axios' full report is here.