Politico is up with a piece on the manuverinbg among Democrats and Republican with current US Senator Kyrsten Sinema, whose gone rogue on Democrat’s and switched to an Independent ….
Democrats are trying to dance with her to keep their 2 seat majority in the current Senate…
But that majority counts on Sinema and Senator Manchin….
Both of these lawmakers are mercurial on their support for Democrats….
Republican Senate leader McConnell has a problem in that he could support Sinema, but she WAS a Democrat and some in his party will never be comfortable with her….
McConnell could also turn to Kari Lake who seems to be advertising for a crack at the spot, but she would be a headache of the type that House Speaker McCarthy has multiples of, and McConnell is just too old for that , one would think….
Early polling has Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego leading Sinema and politicans that chage partiers tend to lose their next election in America….
Ever since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema became an independent in December, her Democratic colleagues have been restrained about the shift, careful not to alienate the Arizona lawmaker when they only have a single-seat majority and need her support on legislation and nominees.
Hoping to get through this year, and then gain clarity about whether Sinema will even seek reelection in 2024 let alone continue to caucus with her old party, Senate Democrats have dodged questions about the mercurial marathoner who’s still barely in their ranks.
“It’s really early,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Democratic campaign arm, told me. “I don’t know what she’s planning on doing.”
But Sinema may be making the Democrats’ deliberations easier.
As she races to stockpile campaign money and post an impressive, statement-making first-quarter fundraising number, Sinema has used a series of Republican-dominated receptions and retreats this year to belittle her Democratic colleagues, shower her GOP allies with praise and, in one case, quite literally give the middle finger to President Joe Biden’s White House.
And that’s before an audience.
Speaking in private, whether one-on-one or with small groups of Republican senators, she’s even more cutting, particularly about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom she derides in harshly critical terms, according to senior Republican officials directly familiar with her comments….
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Sinema has assiduously courted, remains skeptical, however. Believing she remains a Democrat at heart, McConnell has focused on trying to recruit a non-controversial Arizona Republican into the race, somebody who could attract the moderate GOP voters and independents Sinema would need to win the purple state as an independent…..
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With near-total name identification among Arizona Republicans and the affection of one Donald J. Trump, Lake would enter the Senate race as the odds-on favorite to be the GOP nominee….