Just when the Democrats THOUGHT they had it made in the Senate?
Kyrten Sinema makes a power move ….
She’s always been a person dancing to a ‘differnt’ drummer as a lawmaker…
She will try to keep at that….
The US Senate actually has two other Independent Senator’s…
But they hang with the Democrats….
Democrats will still have majority 50-49-1 majority….
And Sinema is saying she’ll still lean Democratic…
But?
Like last year…..
She now has warned everyone she gonna do her ‘own thing’. ..mostly with Democrats…
She’s up for re-election in two years and Democrats are sure to want to run a ‘safe’ Democrat for her Senate seat….
(She won’t have a Democratic primary where Democratic progressives would campiagn against her)
We’ll see if she works with Democrats enough for them to leave her alone….
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is changing her party affiliation to independent, delivering a jolt to Democrats’ narrow majority and Washington along with it.
In a 45-minute interview, the first-term senator told POLITICO that she will not caucus with Republicans and suggested that she intends to vote the same way she has for four years in the Senate. “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she said.
Provided that Sinema sticks to that vow, Democrats will still have a workable Senate majority in the next Congress, though it will not exactly be the neat and tidy 51 seats they assumed. They’re expected to also have the votes to control Senate committees. And Sinema’s move means Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — a pivotal swing vote in the 50-50 chamber the past two years — will hold onto some but not all of his outsized influence in the Democratic caucus.
Sinema would not address whether she will run for reelection in 2024, and informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of her decision on Thursday.
“I don’t anticipate that anything will change about the Senate structure,” Sinema said, adding that some of the exact mechanics of how her switch affects the chamber is “a question for Chuck Schumer … I intend to show up to work, do the same work that I always do. I just intend to show up to work as an independent…
The Democratic US Senate caucus question?
Will Kyrsten Sinema Actually Caucus with Democrats?
Washington Post: “The first thing to note is that it remains unclear whether Sinema will continue to caucus with Democrats, as two other independents in the Senate do. The Arizona Republic reports that she plans to, but other reports leave it ambiguous, merely noting that she won’t caucus with Republicans and that she expects to keep her committee assignments with the majority Democrats.”
“All of it suggests Sinema has left it deliberately ambiguous. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether her move would change the balance of power in the Senate, she responded, ‘that’s kind of a D.C. thing to worry about.’”
Update…
The White House on Friday downplayed the ramifications of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema(Ariz.) announcing that she will leave the Democratic Party and officially register as an Independent days after Democrats had secured a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
“We understand that her decision to register as an independent in Arizona does not change the new Democratic majority control of the Senate, and we have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement…
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Friday announced he will let Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-VGT) keep her Senate committee assignments after she dropped her affiliation with the Democratic Party and said she would identify as an independent, The Hill reports.
image…Politico