Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) received high praise from Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) prior to the successful vote of a bill she championed that is aimed at thwarting the effort of Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). Tuberville is stalling promotions of high ranking military officials until the Pentagon ends its new policy of funding abortion travel for its employees.
Sinema successfully passed legislation last week that will allow the U.S. Senate to vote to confirm the promotions of more than 300 high ranking military officials at once, which she said is necessary because the Senate would otherwise struggle to handle the volume once Tuberville’s protest ends or is bypassed.
Prior to the vote, Schumer (pictured above, center) told German-owned Politico that despite frustrating the party’s leadership by formally leaving the Democratic Party last year, “Sinema has been extremely helpful in a whole lot of areas.”
In an apparent nod to Sinema’s ability to recruit Republican senators in her bid to undermine Tuberville’s effort, Schumer told the outlet Sinema “really cares about getting bipartisan legislation done,” an added that “we have that in common.”
Sinema’s work to oppose Tuberville comes after a campaign strategy document obtained by the media suggested the independent candidate will need to attract a significant number of Republican voters if she is to successfully run for reelection in 2024.
Though she has not officially made a decision, the strategy document claims Sinema’s path to victory requires her to surrender most of Arizona’s Democratic voters to Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), and instead form a winning coalition composed of Republicans who do not like Kari Lake and independents who also do not like Gallego.
All polling of the race for the U.S. Senate in Arizona has shown Sinema losing the race and finishing in a distant, third place, but some polls have shown she may be able to pull enough of the state’s Republican voters to push Gallego to victory.
However, polling released on the day Lake formally declared her candidacy showed her beating both candidates, which suggests Sinema’s entrance in the race may not pull enough votes to see her former political party hold the Senate seat.
Lake has seized on Sinema’s record, including a resurfaced audio clip in which the senator called herself Arizona’s “most liberal legislator,” and the donations she received from individuals tied to the pro-Hamas Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Noting that both Sinema and Gallego accepted donations from individuals associated with CAIR, Lake called on them to join her in “condemning” Representative Rashida Tlaib (R-MI-22) and “their friends in CAIR for the calls for violence.”
Tlaib was slated to speak at Arizona State University on Friday, but the event was abruptly canceled by the university the day before it was to be held, following a condemnation from a bipartisan group of Arizona state legislators. Administrators cited concerns about the group behind it and a failure to adhere to insurance and security requirements.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Senator Chuck Schumer” by Senator Chuck Schumer.
