Will Democrat Senator Switch Parties or Become Independent?

There is growing speculation that Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema may switch to the Republican Party or become independent before 2024.

Sinema has reportedly begun cozying up to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell recently praised Sinema for her displays of bipartisanship at a University of Louisville event.

Kyrsten Sinema is currently speaking at the McConnell Center talking about how proud she is to have “forged a friendship” with him “rooted in our commonalities.”

In 43 days, we can elect 2 more Democratic senators to make Sinema irrelevant & suspend the filibuster to codify Roe. pic.twitter.com/YdhFsUnB2V

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) September 26, 2022

Mitch McConnell praises Kyrsten Sinema less than 50 days out from the Midterms. https://t.co/hgnB5kln3m

— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) September 26, 2022

‘A Hell Of A Lot Of Guts’: Mitch McConnell Praises Kyrsten Sinema At The University Of Louisville https://t.co/FBOgdy45CK

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 1, 2022

Daily Caller reported:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky praised Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s statesmanship during a Monday introduction at the University of Louisville.

“I’ve only known Kyrsten for four years, but she is, in my view, and I’ve told her this before, the most effective first-term senator I’ve seen during my time in the Senate. She is today what we have too few of in the Democratic Party, a genuine moderate and a deal-maker,” the Republican leader said at the school’s McConnell Center, which he helped found in 1991. The University of Louisville hosted Sinema for a lecture on bipartisanship, which she argued is more reflective of American values than partisan squabbling.

During the 117th Congress, Sinema has participated in bipartisan groups that have passed infrastructure and gun control laws, as well as subsidies for the semiconductor industry. She is also helping to negotiate an amendment to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and voted against eliminating the filibuster.

“Every single thing that we’ve had an opportunity to work together on, she’s been a leader of and been involved in, and been extraordinarily effective. As you can tell, I have a very high opinion of the senator from Arizona, but my biggest compliment of her is she protects the institution of the Senate,” McConnell continued.

WATCH:

As Conservative Brief noted, Steve Bannon predicted a potential Sinema party switch:

Former top Trump political adviser Steve Bannon dropped a major midterm election prediction on Friday.

The forecast came on the heels of an event attended by both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the moderate Arizona Democrat who has regularly been criticized by her party for not going along lockstep with key pieces of spending legislation and plans to ditch the filibuster.

cont.

Bannon was assuming that the GOP would regain control of the upper chamber, which is currently at 50-50, though Democrats control the body because Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker, adding if that happened, Sinema would caucus with Republicans.

Bannon said on GETTR:

Senator Sinema is looking downrange at the ‘24 cycle when the Republicans will only increase the majority they win in the Senate in ‘22 …the ‘24 cycle is that strong — watch her switch parties or go ‘independent’ and caucus with the Majority…

The Hill also raised the question:

McConnell’s treatment of Sinema raises questions about whether she might be persuaded to switch parties or change her affiliation to independent ahead of her 2024 Senate reelection race, when she could face a primary challenge from Rep. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) or another liberal Democrat.

Sinema ruled out the idea of switching parties last year, however.

“We’ve all made various attempts and runs at getting her to join our caucus. I think she’s comfortable where she is,” said Thune, who is one of Sinema’s good friends on the Republican side of the aisle.

Will Sinema leave the Democrat Party?