Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) described her attitude toward watching Democratic presidential primary debates in her own words, in an interview with Politico, “I’m not missing anything. I prefer happiness.”
“Look how happy I am,” Sinema added.
Sinema won the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Jeff Flake defeating Republican candidate Martha McSally by 2.4 percentage points in the 2018 election.
Her political stance differs on some issues from the official positions of the Democratic Party. She voted for the confirmation of President Trump nominees like Attorney General William Barr and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
She met with Bernhardt before voting and “carefully considered his nomination,” to make sure that“ he is professionally qualified, believes in the mission of the Interior Department, and will faithfully uphold the law,” Sinema said, according to Arizona Mirror.
Sinema is considered a centrist or a moderate Democrat based on her political views and voting record, according to Arizona Central.
(L-R) Commerce Committee chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mass.), subcommittee chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and subcommittee ranking member Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) at a Senate Commerce Subcommittee in the Hart Senate Office Building, March 27, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
She often mingles with Republican lawmakers and considers Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) an ally in the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space of the Senate Commerce Committee led by Cruz where she is a ranking member.
Sinema disapproves of the “highly partisan” approach to the House impeachment inquiry present in both parties in the Senate and distances herself from it, according to Politico. “That’s not my job, that’s not my role,” Sinema said to Politico regarding the impeachment inquiry.
When interviewed by “Politico,” Sinema said that she considers herself “independent-minded ... And that it’s not super useful to try and convince me otherwise,” said Sinema in this interview.
Her independence spurred criticism among her fellow Democrats, who introduced a resolution in September to censure her for voting too much in alignment with Republicans and President Trump.
“Therefore, be it resolved that the Arizona Democratic Party censures Senator Kyrsten Sinema for failing to support the tenets of the 2016 Democratic Party Platform,” the resolution, signed by the Progressive Caucus of the Arizona Democratic Party, states.
Sinema has voted 19 percent of the time with Trump’s position since becoming a senator, and about 62 percent of the time while she was a House representative.
Dan O'Neal, the Arizona coordinator for the Progressive Democrats of America, told Arizona Central that the purpose of the censure is to urge Sinema to move to the left.
“The way she is voting is really disappointing. We want Democrats to vote like Democrats and not Republicans. ”
The Arizona Democratic Party suspended the resolution at a meeting a few days later.
