Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s “political aspirations” drove her to leave the Democratic Party, he said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
”I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona,” Sanders said.
“I think the Democrats (in Arizona) are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helped sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth,” he added.
As NBC News noted, Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. wielded power over the Democratic agenda when the Senate was evenly split.
“So I think it really has to do with her political aspirations for the future in Arizona, but for us, I think, nothing much has changed in terms of the functioning of the U.S. Senate,” the Vermont progressive added, per CNN News.
On the subject of who the Democratic candidate in Arizona will be, Sanders said: “I support progressive candidates all over this country — people who have the guts to take on special interests,” per The Guardian.
“I don’t know what’s going to be happening in Arizona — we will see who they nominate,” he added.
On Friday, Sinema announced she was a registered independent, as I previously reported for the Deseret News.
“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“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.”
There aren’t any changes to the Senate structure and Sinema intends to stay on board with committee assignments from Democrats. She does not plan to caucus with Republicans, per previous reports.