Kyrsten Sinema Is at the Center of It All. Some Arizonans Wish She Weren't.

[Celerity]

5. She left the Green Party in 2004, when she became a Dem. She was elected to the US House in 2012, &

moved to the centre, towards the right, in 2013-14, after she was being attacked in her first re-election race. She was very much a lefty in the Arizona House (2004-2010) and AZ Senate (2012) before that.

In 2006, Sinema told a radio host that she was "the most liberal member of the Arizona State Legislature".

She is an ever-rightward-shifting chameleon and opportunist, with no real base political philosophy IMHO.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrsten_Sinema

Early political involvement

Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party before joining the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004. In 2000, Sinema worked on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign. In 2001 and 2002, she ran for local elected offices as an independent and lost. In 2002, The Arizona Republic published a letter from Sinema criticizing capitalism. "Until the average American realizes that capitalism damages her livelihood while augmenting the livelihoods of the wealthy, the Almighty Dollar will continue to rule", she wrote. She opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization during this time. She protested Senator Joe Lieberman's unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid, telling the Hartford Courant, "He’s a shame to Democrats ... I don’t even know why he’s running. He seems to want to get Republicans voting for him. What kind of strategy is that?" (OH THE IRONY!)

While in the Green Party, Sinema was its local spokesperson, working to repeal the death penalty and organizing antiwar protests. She had organized 15 antiwar rallies by the time the Iraq War began. She also opposed the war in Afghanistan. During a February 15, 2003, protest in Patriots Square Park in Phoenix, a group led by Sinema distributed flyers portraying a U.S. servicemember as a skeleton "inflicting 'U.S. terror' in Iraq and the Middle East". In a 2003 opinion piece, Sinema declared that Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush were "the real Saddam and Osama lovers". When asked on a local radio show whether she would oppose someone joining the Taliban and fighting on its behalf, Sinema responded, "Fine ... I don't care if you want to do that, go ahead." During 2005 and 2006, Sinema co-hosted a radio show with 9/11 truther Jeff Farias.

snip


2014 (the rightward big move)

Sinema ran for re-election in 2014, and was unopposed in the Democratic primary, which took place on August 26, 2014. She faced Republican Wendy Rogers in the general election.

According to Roll Call, Sinema billed herself as bipartisan. This move was seen as a response to her district's voting pattern. It was drawn as a "fair-fight" district, and President Barack Obama won the district by four points in 2012. In September 2014 she was endorsed for re-election by the United States Chamber of Commerce, becoming one of five Democrats to be endorsed by the Chamber in the 2014 congressional election cycle. She was re-elected with approximately 55 percent of the vote, beating Rogers by 13 points.

snip


In the 2015th Congress, whilst still in the US House, she voted with Trump 62.6% of the time.

She and the centre-right DINO, forced birther/Republican campaigning/fundraising-for Henry Cuellar (huge Biden critic on immigration and a lead conservadem trying to scupper Biden's $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill in the House now) had by far the highest +/- ratings in all Dems in Congress (meaning they voted with Trump and the Rethugs far more than their districts predicted).

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/house/