Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema is popular with Republicans, and with good reason: She keeps helping them block her party’s legislation. Last week, she joined Joe Manchin in shooting down attempts to change the filibuster, which Republicans were using to stop voting rights bills meant to counter restrictive voting laws enacted across several battle ground states. The move earned her further scorn, including from Arizonians in her party, who issued a strongly worded letter attacking her. Now they’ve gone one step further.
As per The New York Times, on Saturday Arizona Democrats formally censured Sinema, accusing her of impeding President Joe Biden’s agenda. It’s a largely symbolic move, though they vowed to withhold further donations from her and sought to seek a replacement when her term is up in 2024. The same group threatened to give Sinema a no-confidence vote back in September.
In a statement, Arizona representative Raquel Terán pointed out that voting rights were already under threat in the state, with Republican-led proposals to limit mail-in voting. She also pointed to the much-criticized audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County (home of Phoenix, the state’s capital).
“The ramifications of failing to pass federal legislation that protects their right to vote are too large and far-reaching,” Terán said.
Again, the censure itself will likely do little to Sinema’s political future, but it’s clear she’s run afoul of both those who put her in office as well as registered Democrats who could re-elect her in two years. Another group that took public umbrage with Sinema was Emily’s List, the fund-raising group aimed at Democratic female politicians who are pro-choice. They were Sinema’s key donors during her successful 2018 run. But after she helped Republicans make it easier to block voting rights, they dumped her.
(Via NYT)
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/kyrsten-sinema-arizona-democrats-censured/