(RoyalPatriot.com )- Just days after Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she would be leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, another independent slammed her decision.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who’s also an independent who caucuses with Democrats, called Sinema a “corporate Democrat” who’s a saboteur of liberal legislation. Sinema announced last week that she would no longer be a Democrat but would also caucus with the liberals.
When asked on a recent appearance on “State of the Union” on CNN, Sanders said Sinema “has her reasons” for leaving the party. He said:
“I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona, I think, or the Democrats there are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helped sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth.”
Sanders was asked plainly whether he thought Sinema had the “guts” to take on the powerful special interest groups that are present in Washington. He said of her:
“She is a corporate Democrat who has, in fact, along with Senator [Joe] Manchin, sabotaged enormously important legislation.”
What Sanders is referring to is the fact that Sinema and Manchin were two Democratic senators who prevented liberals from extremely progressive spending bills without the support of any Republicans.
Since Democrats needed all 50 liberal senators to vote in favor of two spending bills in order to pass them using budget reconciliation, Sinema and Manchin — both of whom are considered very moderate — held a lot of power in the last Congress.
Sanders, and many other progressives in his party, were not happy with that fact. The stances of Manchin and Sinema prevented Democrats from passing the Build Back Better bill that was a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
In fact, Sanders is so upset with how Sinema didn’t stick with her party that he said he would consider backing another Democrat who challenges her in her re-election race in 2024. Sanders said:
“I support progressive candidates all over this country, people who have the guts to take on powerful special interests. I don’t know what’s going to be happening in Arizona. We’ll see who they nominate, but certainly that’s something I will take a hard look at.”
In 2018, Sinema won election to the Senate, beating out Republican Senator Martha McSally by only a slight margin. Should she run for re-election in 2024, as is expected, she’ll face a tough challenge there against potentially both a Democrat and Republican.
In fact, state law in Arizona says that Sinema isn’t allowed to run as a candidate of one particular party since she’s an independent This means she’d have to go straight to the general election, where’d she have to take down both a Republican and Democratic nominee if she wants to win re-election.
Sinema probably has reasons for doing what she did, but many people are certainly questioning it already.
