The Arizona Democratic Party will vote later this week on a resolution to censure out Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). They’re accusing her of being too conservative and supportive of the Trump administration.
A resolution that will be presented at the state Democratic committee this weekend will formally censure Sinema for failing to “support the tenets of the 2016 Democratic party platform.”
Related: Republican politician criticizes out Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s clothing. Yes, he’s a man.
Progressive Democrats cite her votes to confirm Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. She was one of three Democratic senators to cross party lines and vote to confirm each of them.
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They also mention her refusal to sponsor the Save the Internet Act which supports net neutrality. Net neutrality would require internet service providers to treat all internet communications equally.
Sinema served in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms, where she built a reputation as a moderate Democrat. Last year she won a seat in the U.S. Senate, the first time a Democrat won a U.S. Senate race in the red state since 1988.
But while her centrism may have gotten her support in a conservative state, it has aggravated more liberal Democrats.
“Here’s the thing: we really support Kyrsten Sinema, we want her to succeed, we want her to be the best senator in the country,” Dan O’Neal, state coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America, told the Arizona Republic.
“But the way she is voting is really disappointing. We want Democrats to vote like Democrats and not Republicans.”
Sinema is not commenting on the resolution, but she has defended her centrism in the past.
“As everyone knows, I am 100% focused on the needs of everyday Arizonans, and I refuse to be distracted by the pettiness and the partisanship that has invaded Washington,” she said this past July.
“I promised Arizonans that I would never be a part of that typical Washington chaos and drama and I’m going to continue to stay focused, just like a laser, on the stuff that actually matters to the people in their everyday lives.”
Arizona Democratic Party chairwoman Felecia Rotellini said that she is not sure that the resolution will pass. She also stressed that the resolution is not a sign of a party fracture but more a result of “diversity of thought.”
In 2014, the Arizona Republican Party voted to censure Senator John McCain (R-AZ) because of his work on immigration reform.
