Democrat Senator Sinema Registers As Independent

December 9, 2022 7:41 am

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says she’s registered as an independent. But the first-term senator also says she doesn’t plan to caucus with Republicans and that will ensure Democrats retain their narrow majority in the Senate. Sinema has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and has frustrated Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to party priorities. She writes in a newspaper column that she’s “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.” Democrats were set to hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate come January after the victory Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia’s runoff election.