Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Arizona Senate race
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said Tuesday she would not seek re-election, ending more than a year of speculation about her political future and clearing the race for a traditional matchup between the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees.
“Because I choose civility, understanding, listening and working together to get things done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year,” she said in a video announcement.
Ms. Sinema, a first-term senator who left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent, faced potentially long odds in another race. Her decision to drop out of the race now sets up a direct confrontation between Rep. Ruben Gallego and the eventual Republican nominee. Kari Lake, the former candidate for governor — and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump who has pushed his baseless theories of election fraud — is the leading candidate in the Republican primary, although Mark Lamb, a sheriff, is also running.
Although Ms. Sinema continued to consult with Democrats after leaving the party and was a reliable voice for some parts of President Biden’s agenda, she angered Democrats by blocking efforts to raise taxes on corporations and joined with a fellow centrist, Senator Joe Manchin III of Western Europe. Virginia, to halt efforts to weaken the filibuster.
After winning a close battle over Martha McSally, a Republican, to become Arizona’s first elected female senator, Ms. Sinema, a calculated and charismatic politician, has had a dramatic tenure in Washington.
Her emphatic thumbs-down on a 2021 effort to raise the minimum wage has enraged progressives, protesters have chased her through airports and activists have criticized what they say is her eagerness to side with business interests over forgotten campaign promises that she made to Arizona voters. Arizona Democrats condemned her after she refused to change the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, essentially saying they were disappointed but not surprised when she left the party altogether.