Gallego claims Sinema left the Democrats because she can’t win a primary against him
Virginia Aabram
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Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is strongly hinting at a bid for Senate, said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) left the Democratic Party because she would lose to him in the 2024 Senate primary.
Gallego told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday that Sinema’s decision to register as an independent last week betrays her Arizona constituents and only serves to make her an easier path to reelection. Sinema, a centrist whom progressives have long viewed as an obstacle in the gridlocked Senate, said she wanted to buck the partisan binary and better represent the political views of her state.
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“Not really, I thought she was going to do this eventually,” Gallego said when asked if he was surprised by her decision. “Look, she claims to be independent. That’s not the case. The case is that she can’t win a primary against me, and this is her only option. And more importantly, you know, she really just abandoned the values of Arizona, and her being independent has nothing to do with the values of Arizona — it just means that she has an easier time to run, and she can go talk to her friends in Wall Street and in the pharma companies.”
He added that he’s in the midst of exploring a Senate bid, assembling a team, and discussing it with his family. Sinema is up for reelection in 2024 and would have faced a tough Democratic primary as progressives sought to oust her. As a registered independent, she won’t have to go through the primary should she run.
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“When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans,” she wrote in an op-ed in the Arizona Republic. “That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.”
Her decision doesn’t have an outsize impact on Senate politics, as she will still caucus with the Democrats, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to let her keep her committee assignments. Sinema and the other sometimes rogue Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) won’t have as much sway over the Senate next term since Democrats picked up a seat in Pennsylvania when Sen.-elect John Fetterman (D) defeated Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.