Arizona U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema he announced that she left the Democratic Party and switched to the Independents. Sinema’s announcement comes days after the Democrats won the runoff for one of Georgia’s two seats, with Senator Raphael Warnock, which allowed the party to strengthen its majority in the Senate. Thanks to that victory, the Democrats had in fact reached 51 seats against the 49 Republicans, which would have made it easier for the administration of President Joe Biden, also a Democrat, to approve some measures.
In recent years, Sinema had often disagreed with the Democratic Party and with President Biden, showing herself to be more conservative on some issues, such as tax policies, and on several occasions she had voted together with the Republicans in opposition to her party. However, the passage of Sinema to the Independents does not imply that the Democrats will lose a seat: even before Warnock’s victory, the Democratic senators also included two Independents, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, who during the voting almost always behave at all effects as party members. It is therefore very likely that Senator Sinema will also continue to vote alongside her former party in the future in most cases.
