Kyrsten Sinema’s vote to sustain the filibuster just all but ended her political career.
The Arizona Democratic Party on Saturday voted to formally censure the state’s senior senator for her part in killing the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights Acts.
I exclusively reported last week that the ADP would be considering the action, which brings to a head a dispute that began in the fall.
Arizona Democratic Party executive chair Raquel Terán issued a damning statement castigating Sinema after the vote on Saturday, making it clear that the party was likely to end its support of her political career going forward.
This isn’t likely to bring much controversy — a new poll found that Sinema has a staggeringly pathetic 8% approval rating amongst Arizona Democrats.
Sinema’s vote also triggered the automatic release of funds raised by the Sinema Primary Pledge, one of several groups that formed this past fall to pressure the senator into dropping her fixation with the filibuster and supporting the Democratic agenda.
The group has raised over $125,000 since the end of September, which became available when the rule changes come up for a vote in the Senate and Sinema indeed follows through with her promise to vote against any adjustments to the filibuster.
“Then it’ll be all gloves off,” Belén Sisa, a founder of the Sinema Primary Challenge, told me last week. “We gave you a chance and you decided to not do what the people of Arizona asked.”
The Primary Sinema Pledge is bifurcating its financial power to follow an inside-outside plan that does more than make a lump sum donation to a politician. Half of the money it raises will be dispensed to local grassroots organizations that have been crucial to turning Arizona blue and have led the fight to hold Sinema accountable. That list includes LUCHA, the Hispanic-led group that has sent members to protest at a number of of Sinema’s high-dollar fundraisers.
Progressives Everywhere spoke with the organizing director of LUCHA about their efforts in October.
“It's going to take years to build up a primary challenger that's going to be strong enough because she is a fundraising machine,” Sisa says. “It's gonna be the bad guys versus the underdog in this situation, and it's because she's just so backed by corporate interests and the Chamber of Commerce.”
Institutional support from Democratic-aligned organizations, though, has crumbled for Sinema over the past week. She lost the backing of Emily’s List, the largely moderate pro-choice PAC, as well as the support of NARAL and GLAAD.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, widely rumored to be considering a primary challenge, called Sinema out by name in a speech on the House floor almost immediately after hers concluded. He has since made multiple national TV show appearances and has spoken about being asked to challenge Sinema. He has officially said that he’s focused on his 2022 re-election right now, but given his own large network and infrastructure in the state, may have the best shot of ousting Sinema — should she even run for a second term.
CLICK HERE to Donate to Sinema Primary Pledge via CrowdPac!
CLICK HERE to Donate to LUCHA and other Sinema primary organization in Arizona!
P.S. The national media allowed Kyrsten Sinema to get this powerful, focusing on her every move and embracing her myth. This story was built on independent reporting from Progressives Everywhere, my 30,000+ subscriber newsletter.
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