Sinema to leave the Senate
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) announced on Tuesday that she will not run for re-election, thereby setting up a two-way race for the seat between U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Republican former television news anchor Kari Lake, who is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
The first bisexual woman to serve in the U.S. Senate — and the second LGBTQ woman, after U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) — Sinema was instrumental in shoring up support in the chamber for passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which protects the rights of married same-sex and interracial couples.
Sinema mentioned the legislative achievement in a video posted on X announcing her plans to leave the Senate.
Registering as an Independent in December 2022 after years of serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and then the Senate as a Democrat, Sinema developed a reputation for imperiling some of her former party’s more ambitious policy goals.
For example, she was criticized for refusing to support abolishing the Senate filibuster and for objecting to a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that would have narrowed the carried interest tax loophole, which benefits investment managers at private equity funds.
In her video, the senator detailed her objections to what she considers the polarization of partisan politics that has come to dominate Washington.
“I want to thank @SenatorSinema for her nearly two decades of service to our state,” Gallego wrote in a post on X.
“As a journalist, I covered Kyrsten Sinema for many years,” Lake wrote in a post on X. “We may not agree on everything, but I know she shares my love for Arizona.”