Recent news that Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is quitting the Democrat Party made big headlines.
This is a huge disappointment for Biden and his party. It comes on the heels of others, such as former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, also bidding goodbye to the left.
They both made it clear it isn’t that their beliefs have changed; it’s that the Democrat Party has, in their view, become too extreme and full of hate for them to feel welcome in it any longer.
Sinema will be going Independent and this spells a big headache for the Democrats.
Why Sinema Leaving Matters for the Dems
The biggest reason this is so bad for the Democrats is it spells trouble in what they thought was a safe seat.
Sinema may well run for re-election in 2024. She’s facing attacks from the further left by people like Ruben Gallego who claim she’s been bought off by Big Pharma and corporate interests.
An internal fight among the Democrats is not good news for Biden. Even if Sinema’s Independent, she has a significant slice of support that could leech away the Democratic chance to retake this district.
Sinema is just one woman and one seat, but her departure is very iconic and important.
She’s basically leaving because her own party turned on her. They insulted and attacked her after she said she wouldn’t try to scrap the filibuster as party leadership wanted.
Kyrsten Sinema getting incessant death threats for leaving the Democrats probably just makes her even more happy that she left the Democrats.
— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) December 9, 2022
Sinema Targeted
Sinema was treated like a thought criminal just for not agreeing with the radical left of her own party. She may end up in a three-way competition in 2024 with Gallego and someone on the Republican side.
This could end up sinking the Democrats as support for Sinema and Gallego splits. Although the exact details remain to be seen, the political lessons of this are clear.
You can’t control the consequences of political defections and departures. When you treat party members like trash, they stop being team players. It’s basic politics and the Democrats look like they’re in for a basic class in politics.
As they argue Sinema is the traitor and the black sheep for leaving the party, it only reinforces her decision that leaving was the right call.
There’s no way she’s going back now and, in fact, more Democrats may end up joining her in leaving the party.
The Democrats are losing their minds over Kyrsten Sinema leaving their radical party.
The Democrat Party has gone full socialist and everyone knows it.
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) December 10, 2022
The Bottom Line
Sinema will do what is in her own best interest. She is clearly done with the kind of treatment she got from the Democrats.
She may well end up being the start of an exodus from the party that could hurt its future chances even more.
As things currently stand, the future has never looked so bad in Congress for the left.
