Independent U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said that she will not run for reelection in the highly competitive state, which will be critical to her former Democratic Party's chances of maintaining its narrow majority.
Sinema's decision clears the way for an expected head-to-head contest in the November 2024 election between Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine veteran who served in Iraq, and Kari Lake, a far-right Republican who lost a bid for Arizona governor in 2022.
Sinema, 47, was elected in 2018 as a Democrat, but drew her party's ire after she foiled some policy proposals of President Joe Biden along with moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. They most notably refused to support any change to the Senate's filibuster rule to allow Democrats to enact major voting rights legislation.
At the same time, Sinema, the first openly bisexual senator, gained the respect of many of her Senate colleagues as a dogged legislator who was willing to plunge into difficult issues until compromises were reached.
Sinema was a key negotiator on Biden's successful $1 trillion infrastructure investment bill that was enacted in 2021. Just this year, she was one of three main negotiators on one of the most important border security and immigration reform bills offered in the Senate in a decade -- which was promptly killed by former President Donald Trump's opposition that led to the collapse of Republican support.
