Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to leave the Democratic Party was driven by “political aspirations for the future in Arizona,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday.
“I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona,” Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think the Democrats there are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helped sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth.”
Along with fellow centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sinema held strong negotiating power on Democratic priorities in the evenly divided Senate. “She is a corporate Democrat who has, in fact along with Senator Manchin, sabotaged enormously important legislation,” said Sanders, a prominent progressive lawmaker.
Sinema’s announcement to register as an independent came just days after Democrats reached a 51-49 Senate majority following Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in the Georgia runoff election, which expanded the party’s narrowest of majorities.
However, she has said she intends to keep her committee seats assigned to her by Democrats,meaning the party will still have a clear majority and full control of committees, a Democratic leadership aide told NBC News.
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While some Democratic senators have criticized Sinema’s decision to leave the Democratic Party, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., shared a less critical view of her move in an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“I had a good experience working with Kyrsten on a number of different topics, especially the bipartisan infrastructure package,” Tester said, adding that that he doesn’t think it matters if Sinema is a Democrat or Republican as long as she “wants to get things” in Congress.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
