Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Yes, Kyrsten Sinema is in trouble

From Data For Progress (pointed to this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire) - 

WHO IS KYRSTEN SINEMA REALLY REPRESENTING?

Halfway through her term as Senator of Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema is finding herself seemingly at odds with the members of her party. Her dedication to preserving the filibuster has stood as a significant obstacle to enacting a number of important bills and to more general Democratic governance despite the party’s trifecta in Washington, DC. Most recently, her unwavering stance on the filibuster enabled Republicans to block the For the People Act, a sweeping voting rights bill that is popular with the Democratic base, leadership, and her constituents back home in Arizona. In a recent poll by Data For Progress, we found strong majority support for this bill and a number of others that are high on the Democrats’ policy agenda. We also found that Arizona voters from across the political spectrum are displeased overall with her performance as Senator. Taken together, this begs the question: if her policy stances are alienating leadership and voters alike, who exactly is Kyrsten Sinema representing in Congress?


Even if she makes it through a primary, in a general election, she'll have problems.


I expect that many of the folks who, like me, held their noses and voted for her in 2018, will skip the race if she's on the general election ballot in 2024.


It also may be why Doug Ducey is letting Mark Brnovich take on Mark Kelly in 2022 for his seat in the US Senate; in 2024, he wants to be the Republican nominee for POTUS, and may settle for being the R nominee for VPOTUS.  Depending on how that works out, he may accept the consolation prize of challenging Sinema for a spot in the US Senate.


The best thing for Sinema may be if the R nominee is someone who is utterly nuts; say a Gosar or Biggs.


On the other hand, they're in safe Congressional districts so they may not run for a Senate seat..

1 comment:

Thane Eichenauer said...

If President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House and Majority Leader Chuck Shumer can't advance legislation without the minority using filibuster rules, perhaps Biden and Company should improve the legislation rather than eliminating the filibuster.

As for skipping over the US Senate race, some people may skip it if they feel whether the US Senate office for Arizona is held by a Republican or a Democrat or a Libertarian or Other but I don't think that is terribly likely.