Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) announced on Friday that she will leave the Democratic party and register as an independent.
“Registering as an independent and showing up to work with the title of independent is a reflection of who I’ve always been…. Nothing’s going to change for me,” Sinema said while announcing her decision. “I’m going to still come to work and hopefully serve on the same committees I’ve been serving on and continue to work well with my colleagues at both political parties.”
The move is not expected to affect the Democrats’ narrow 51-49 majority as Sinema said she plans to keep her committee assignments. In the event of a tie, the Democrats also still have the tiebreaker in Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Kyrsten is independent; that’s how she’s always been,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement. “I believe she’s a good and effective senator and am looking forward to a productive session in the new Democratic majority Senate.”
He added that the Democrats “will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes.”
Sinema also said that she will not caucus with the Republicans.
Sinema has been known as a centrist Democrat and has frustrated colleagues by standing in the way of big Democratic initiatives such as President Joe Biden‘s sweeping $3 trillion Build Back better bill and changes to the Senate filibuster rules to pass voting rights protections.
Sinema is up for reelection in 2024, but it is unclear if she will seek another term.
