Sinema, weighing re-election bid, rules out joining GOP
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said Sunday she has no plans to switch to the Republican Party as she weighs a reelection bid in 2024.
In an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation, Sinema, who left the Democratic Party last year and officially registered as an independent, said she was “absolutely” done with party affiliations.
When asked by host Margaret Brennan if she will ever become a Republican, Sinema called both sides of the aisle “broken” parties, adding, “You don’t go from one broken party to the next.”
Sinema was registered as an independent just days after Democrats achieved a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber — following Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in Georgia in the runoff — expanding their narrowest majority.
Though she hasn’t announced if she will run again in 2024, Sinema’s campaign raised over $2.1 million in the first quarter of this year, with over half of that coming from donors who donated at least $3,300. More than 30% of that amount came from employees of just five major companies, including hedge funds, investment groups, and private equity firms.
Sinema had previously come under fire for her ties to Wall Street and the wealthy of congressional Democrats, including Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Sinema’s Senate seat last year.
During her time as a Democratic senator, Sinema repeatedly ran afoul of her peers, including last year’s rejection of a filibuster rule change that could have helped pass a major voting rights bill — one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities.
