News

Good luck with your ‘moderate’: Arizona’s new Dem Senator-elect breaks campaign promise straight away

November 16, 2018 | | Print Article

Well, that was fast.

United States Senator-elect from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, has barely held her new position long but has already reneged on a promise made on the campaign trail.

The Democrat, who won a narrow victory over Rep. Martha McSally to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, said she would not oppose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s continued leadership, despite her assurance when she was running that she would vote against him, according to Politico.

(Image: screenshot)

“Had there been a challenger for minority leader, I would have considered new leadership and a fresh perspective,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to put Arizona over party.”

But the former environmental and peace activist, who is Arizona’s first female senator, the country’s first openly bisexual senator and the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from the state in three decades, had a different view during the campaign.

“I won’t support him,” Sinema flatly told Politico in July, referring to Schumer.

The New York Democrat was unanimously re-elected as Senate minority leader on Wednesday.

Sinema defended her decision in a statement to Politico:

“Arizonans know I will work with anyone — in either party — to get things done for our state,” she said. “It’s time for a new approach on both sides of the aisle and I look forward to working with my colleagues to cut through the dysfunction and deliver results for Arizona.”

 

Republicans and others denounced the move by the senator-elect who ran in the traditionally red state of Arizona as a moderate Democrat.

In an op-ed for Arizona Republic, columnist Laurie Roberts slammed the “great start” from Sinema who touted the late Sen. John McCain in her victory speech.

“(He) stood for everything we stand for as Arizonans: fighting for what you believe in, standing up for what’s right even if you stand alone,” Sinema said.

According to Roberts:

McCain was the maverick who wasn’t afraid to buck his party.

Sinema is the self-proclaimed independent who wasn’t afraid to dump on her party.

Of course, that was then, when she was running to snag those all-important votes from center and center-right voters.

And this, apparently, is now, when she’s … not.

 

Roberts noted how Democrats are defending Sinema’s choice and have accused the columnist of “being petty.”

“Or maybe I’m just suggesting that if you repeatedly say on the campaign trail that you’re going to do something – like, say, not vote for Schumer to be minority leader – then you ought to keep your promise – like, say, by standing up and objecting to his being elected by acclamation,” Roberts wrote.

The congresswoman has raised a few eyebrows since her win over McSally.

Sinema acknowledged Wednesday that she would work with Republicans on “everything.”

“I’ll work with anyone on anything,” she responded to a question from the Daily Caller News Foundation about whether she was willing to work with the GOP on the border wall and other issues.

Republican candidate McSally trailed Sinema by more than 38,000 votes out of more than 2.2 million ballots cast, according to Fox News. The vote count in Arizona continued for six more days beyond Election Day and led to a GOP lawsuit against Maricopa County, where many of the roughly 650,000 votes not tallied were from, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The GOP lawsuit questioned Maricopa County’s decision to  open ’emergency voting’ centers, the location of those centers in allegedly “bluer” locations and ballot counting procedures, among other issues.

Meanwhile, Sinema has come under fire for breaking her campaign promise just days after her victory.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

$10
$15
$25
$50
Other
$
Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Frieda Powers
Latest posts by Frieda Powers (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles