Sinema censured by Arizona Democrats over support for filibuster

Kyrsten Sinema
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) voted Saturday to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Phoenix's local ABC affiliate reported.

The ADP warned last week that they planned to censure Sinema, who in 2019 became the first Democratic senator from Arizona since 1995, if she refused to support a Senate rule change to circumvent the filibuster and enable President Biden's voting rights bill to pass. Wednesday night, Sinema joined with Senate Republicans to vote against the rule change, effectively killing the bill.

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The motion to censure the moderate Democrat, which passed unanimously, could be indicative of greater troubles still to come.

According to The Associated Press, Sinema is in a much more precarious position than fellow moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who also voted against the rule change, because Manchin represents "a state that former President Donald Trump carried by nearly 39 percentage points in 2020," while in Arizona, "Democrats are ascendant."

The Primary Sinema Project has already raised over $300,000 for the Arizona moderate's challenger in the 2024 primary. Meanwhile, a group of top donors Sinema's campaigns have threatened to pull their support, Politico reported, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has even floated the idea of campaigning on behalf of Sinema's eventual primary opponent.

Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.