Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) slammed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as a “corporate Democrat” who “sabotaged enormously important” legislation, days after Sinema announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an Independent.
Sanders told CNN’s Dana Bash that he would support a candidate in Arizona who has the “guts to take on powerful special interests”. He does not believe that candidate is Sinema because she is a “corporate Democrat who has, in fact, along with Sen. [Joe] Manchin [D-W.Va.] sabotaged enormously important legislation.”
Sinema announced on Friday that she left the Democratic Party and registered as an Independent.
“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,” she told CNN. “I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to. 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.”
Sinema joins Sanders and Sen. Angus King (Maine) as the three Independents in the Senate. Sinema will caucus with Democrats which will allow the party to keep their new 51-49 majority in the Senate.
“She has her reasons. I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona,” Sanders said of Sinema’s move to become an Independent.
He continued: “I think the Democrats are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helps sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth. So I think it really has to do with her political aspirations for the future in Arizona, but for us, I think, nothing much has changed in terms of the functioning of the US Senate.”
While not much has changed, it raises the question of whether Democrats will nominate a candidate to challenge Sinema in the 2024 Senate contest. Before she left the Democratic Party, there were speculations that progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz) would challenge her in the primary.
