White House says it has 'every reason to expect' Kyrsten Sinema will keep working with Biden as she leaves the Democratic party
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
- Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema announced Friday that she's leaving the Democratic Party to be an independent.
- Sinema said she is stepping away from a "broken partisan system."
- The White House said that even with Sinema's party change, it expects to keep working closely with her.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's announcement that she's leaving the Democratic Party to become a registered independent comes just days after the Democrats secured a 52-seat majority in the Senate. Despite Sinema's party exit, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted Friday that President Joe Biden and his staff "understand her decision" and they "have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her."
"Senator Sinema has been a key partner on some of the historic legislation President Biden has championed over the last 20 months," Jean-Pierre tweeted. "We understand that her decision to register as an independent in Arizona does not change the new Democratic majority control of the Senate, and we have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her."
Some notable pieces of legislation that have passed during the Biden administration with help from Sinema include the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act to the CHIPS and Science Act, the PACT Act, the Gun Safety Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act.
Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the Senate after Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia's runoff election on December 6. Now that Sinema has switched parties, Democrats may have to again rely on Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking votes if Sinema decides not to vote with her former party.
—Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) December 9, 2022
Sinema told Politico that her departure from the Democratic Party stems from her feeling like she "never really fit into a box of any political party. The senator said her party affiliation switch won't change the way she votes, and that she won't caucus with Republicans.