Sinema leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent

[ThatRobGuy]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/kyrsten-sinema-leaves-democratic-party/index.html

CNN —
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party and registering as a political independent, she told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an exclusive TV interview.

“I’ve registered as an Arizona independent. I know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually, I think it makes a lot of sense,” Sinema said in a Thursday interview with Tapper in her Senate office.

“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she added. “Removing myself from the partisan structure – not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”


She adds to a slowly growing list that includes other recent ones like Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang. (as well as people who've been "independent" for a while like Bernie Sanders and Justin Amash)

I see it as a good thing. The more people (with some name recognition) that do it, the more it'll
A) destigmatize Independents, and the more people will get comfortable with the prospect of voting for someone who doesn't have an (R) or (D) after their name, and
B) provide people with options, who don't neatly fit into one of the two existing buckets and allow them to still vote for some of the things they like, without having to carry a bunch of other pre-existing party baggage along for the ride.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

It would seem as if her move may have been a strategic one as well based on this article:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3768590-gallego-potential-arizona-senate-hopeful-hits-sinema-after-party-switch/

Prior to Sinema’s maneuver, Gallego was considered a prime candidate to launch a primary challenge against her in 2024. The House Democrat has been one of the leading critics of Sinema over the past year, including for what he saw as Sinema’s lack of work on behalf of the party in the key state during the 2022 midterms.


Switching her affiliation to Independent (while still caucusing with the democrats on most things) does insulate her from being primaried by Gallego.

And if Gallego runs as a Democrat against her (and presumably a yet to be named republican) in a 3-way race in the general, that would end up splitting the left-leaning vote making the Republican a shoe-in. And the DNC is unlikely to spend a lot of money trying to campaign against a safe incumbent independent who votes with them 80% of the time like they would in a traditional 2-way (D) vs. (R) senate race.