ARIZONA – Democrats across the country are fighting tough races against extreme, Trump-backed election deniers. Nowhere is that more true than in Arizona, which is also ground zero for the Republican assaults on abortion rights and voting rights.
Yet, the state’s highest ranking Democrat is nowhere to be found on the campaign trail and doing next to nothing to help Democrats win. Instead, Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been schmoozing with Mitch McConnell, going on shopping trips to Paris, and doubling down on her support for the filibuster – the same filibuster that has prevented Democrats from passing abortion rights and voting rights legislation.
QUOTE FROM PRIMARY SINEMA: “Kyrsten Sinema doesn’t care about who wins the election because she doesn’t care about Arizonans. She only cares about herself and her wealthy corporate donors. She’s deprived her constituents of important priorities like paid family leave, affordable child care, and investments in schools while standing in the way of passing abortion rights and voting rights legislation. So it’s no surprise that she won’t even do the bare minimum to help Democrats get elected. That’s why we’re going to make sure she is defeated in a Democratic primary.”
ICYMI: Arizona Republic: Barack Obama was in Arizona. Now, can anybody find Kyrsten Sinema? by Laurie Roberts
EXCERPTS:
- “Sinema is the Democrats’ superpower this year – or she should be. She’s the highest ranking Democrat in the state and while her own party doesn’t much like her, independents and moderate Republicans do. So, where is she?”
- “A spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party confirmed that Sinema was invited to attend Wednesday night’s rally with Obama. She was a no.”
- “She keeps everyone at arm’s length and I mean everyone. She doesn’t want anyone else to compete for the spotlight. She doesn’t stick her neck out for anyone else. She’s just flat unavailable.”
- “What’s necessary, should Hobbs really want to be governor, is getting Sinema out on the campaign trail. And there are 195,000 reasons why Sinema shouldn’t have to be asked. That’s the number of moderate Republicans and independent voters who in 2018 cast ballots for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and shunned the Trump-endorsed Martha McSally, voting instead to send Sinema to the Senate, according to people who study this stuff.”
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Separately, a recent HuffPost story by Kevin Robillard also noted that Sinema has done next to nothing to help Katie Hobbs beat Trump extremist Kari Lake in Arizona’s governor’s race. As that story notes:
- “[Sinema] had stayed relatively silent on state Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ run for governor, even as Hobbs, a Democrat, trails Republican Kari Lake, a far-right former news anchor with a specialty in election denial.”
- “Sinema’s role in the two races shows how her relationship with the state’s Democratic Party remains rocky at best after her refusal to budge on eliminating the filibuster, which contributed to the sinking of much of President Joe Biden’s initial agenda. And the outcomes of both contests could help shape how voters view Sinema’s own reelection bid in 2024, when she is likely to face a serious primary challenge.”
- “In June 2021, Hobbs wrote a Washington Post op-ed calling out Sinema and Manchin’s opposition to the filibuster, arguing that its elimination was necessary to pass legislation that would protect voting rights in Arizona and other states.”
- “Listening to GOP television ads and attacks from Blake Masters, the venture capitalist who won the Republican Senate nomination with the backing of former President Donald Trump, you might get the impression Kelly and Sinema are adversaries rather than allies.”
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