Kyrsten Sinema announces her retirement from the Senate

Out bi Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) announced that she will not be seeking reelection to her seat in the Senate.

“I believe in my approach, but it’s not what America wants right now,” she said in announcing her retirement.

Related:

Call her Queen Solomon: Kyrsten Sinema fancies herself the wise arbitrator of the Senate

Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy. Sinema is volunteering to find “middle ground.”

Sinema has been a controversial figure in the Senate, often frustrating Democratic priorities. She left the Democratic party in late 2022, after earning enmity from other Arizona Democrats for not helping others get reelected that year.

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“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” Sinema said at the time. “Removing myself from the partisan structure… not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”

She spent some time fundraising from Republican donors but lost steam, raising only $595,000 in campaign cash last quarter, a paltry amount for a U.S. Senate race. The leading Democratic contender for that seat, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), raised almost five times as much.

A Rasmussen poll from late February found that only 21% of likely voters in Arizona would vote for Sinema in a three-way race this year. 33% said they’d vote for Gallego and 37% said they would vote for Kari Lake, the leading Republican candidate.

The same Rasmussen poll asked about a two-way race between Gallego and Lake and found the Democrat getting 42% support and the Republican getting 45% support.