Senator Kyrsten Sinema is a no on joining the Republican Party

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) went from Democrat to Independent in December 2022. She was a rare centrist Democrat so Senate Republicans hoped to convince her to caucus with them. But, no, she continues to caucus with the Senate Democrats. She is still a Democrat, whether she officially calls herself that or not.

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When asked during a pre-taped interview with CBS’s Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan if she would join the Republican Party, now that she’s an Independent, Sinema said no. She is done with political parties.

“Now that you’re an independent, you’ll never become a Republican?” host Margaret Brennan asked.

“No,” Sinema said, adding: “You don’t go from one broken party to another.”

That’s her jam, though. She’s interested in promoting herself as an independent politician. She’s been a thorn in the side of Senate Democrats since she came to the Senate, holding their feet to the fire on being more fiscally conservative. She has also been doggedly working on trying to secure the southern border at a time when Democrats don’t show the slightest interest in doing that. With the exception of moderate Demcorat Rep. Henry Cuellar who represents the Laredo, Texas area, Democrats in both the House and Senate have been complicit in the Biden border crisis. They allow Biden, Kamala Harris (the border czar), and DHS Secretary Mayorkas to continue to declare with impunity that the border is closed.

Sinema, while trying to remain a more independent-minded voting Democrat, er, Independent, has shown she has a centrist to center-right voting record. She refused to go along to get along with some of Biden’s trillion-dollar spending boondoggles. Good for her. However, when push comes to shove, she votes with the Democrats and Joe Biden gets his agenda passed. She and her partner in crime, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WVA), both talk a big game and then vote with the Democrats anyway. So, it’s no surprise that the Senate Republicans failed to convince Sinema to join them. She still votes 96% of the time with Democrats.

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She refused to discuss if she has decided to run for re-election in 2024 and if so, will she run as a Democrat or an Independent. She faces challenges from her left and right already.

“I’m not here to talk about elections today,” she Sunday when pressed about her plans.

If she does run, Sinema will, at the least, face challenges from Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Mark Lamb, the sheriff of Pinal County. But the senator has used her party transition to call for and end to the rise in the partisanship in Congress.

“I would suggest that what I tried to do in the United States Senate right is to show that we have differences, differences which should be celebrated,” Sinema said Sunday. “That’s an important part of a democracy. But those differences shouldn’t stop us from getting things done.”

She is a border hawk, though, which is rare among her party. She is one of the few Democrats who have gone to the border to tour it for herself. She visits her state of Arizona’s border and the Texas border, too. Sinema has been sounding the alarm that the Biden administration is not ready for what is about to happen on May 11 when Title 42 expires. She said they have had two years to prepare and yet, here we are. When she asks questions of Mayorkas and his office, she says the answers are inadequate. Mayorkas was interviewed after Sinema and he denies Sinema’s claims that the administration is not prepared.

“The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so,” Sinema, I-Ariz., said in an interview that aired in part Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “And our state is going to bear the brunt and migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. It will be a humanitarian crisis because we are not prepared.”

Arizona and other border states, particularly Texas, are bracing for incoming migrants. Although Sinema said her state will bear the brunt, El Paso is widely seen as the center of the border crisis.

Mayorkas, appearing Sunday on Face the Nation, flatly denied that the administration is not ready. He also dismissed complaints about a lack of information on how many migrants are expected, the processing times, and transportation options.

“If there is a question that has been unanswered, we will answer it,” he said.

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No one should ever believe a word out of that man’s mouth. He should be impeached. The Democrat-controlled Senate won’t impeach him, though, and he is doing the bidding of Joe Biden so his job is safe. The Biden border crisis is intentional. The countries that Mayorkas claims are working with the United States are those in which DHS is working to put up migrant stations to process them before they get to the U.S. border. However, Mayorkas had to admit it will probably take a couple of years for those to be set up, when Margaret Brennan asked if it would be ready for May 11. Of course, they won’t. It’s all just talk at this point. Mayorkas considers that being prepared.

Sinema is worried about the effect of Title 42 ending on her state and I don’t blame her. However, she’s wrong when she says Arizona will take the brunt of the migrant wave when Title 42 ends. That will be Texas. The abuse Texas is already taking will only multiply on May 11.

Mayorkas still insists the border is closed. It is a sham. It is an insult to what anyone can see if they tune in to FNC and see the almost hourly reports from the border every day. Now that Title 42 is ending and suddenly everyone is aware of a border crisis, some other networks are beginning to report from the border. I saw a CBS reporter reporting from Laredo this morning on one of the Sunday shows. Shocker.

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Ed Morrissey 1:20 PM | November 05, 2024
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