The “Prada socialist” turned centrist exercises power over Biden’s agenda

When Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema voted against including a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour in President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package earlier this year, it did so with dramatic flourishing. : one thumb down.

The gesture was reminiscent of the late John McCain, another Arizona senator who frequently broke with his party and famously gave his fingers to the efforts of fellow Republicans to repeal Barack Obama’s Health Act.

But Sinema also outraged the progressives, who distinguished her as one of the eight Democrats in the Senate. oppose the salary increase. The Sinema spokeswoman argued that the media’s focus on their “body language, clothing or physical behavior” was sexist.

Three months later, Sinema is back at the center of the political debate, leading talks on bipartisan infrastructure with the White House and drawing criticism from his own party for its support of the filibuster, an arcane Senate rule that means most laws they need the support of 60 senators – or at least 10 Republicans in the current Congress – to become law. Calls to undo the filibuster became stronger this week after a major vote reform bill died without a Republican vote.

The senator’s appearance in the first term as a congressional power agent highlights the daunting mathematics Biden faces as he drives ambitious plans for infrastructures, net energy and the social safety net. In a Senate split between 50 and 50 between Democrats and Republicans, centrists like Sinema and West Virginia Joe Manchin handle large influence.

Sinema, who will soon turn 45, has made no secret of his desire to inherit McCain’s reputation as a “maverick.” He doubled the filibuster with one column on Tuesday in the Washington Post, shortly after progressive group Just Democracy spent $ 1.4 million posting ads accusing it of “failing” Arizona voters. Sinema argued that bipartisan cooperation is the only path to “lasting and lasting” results.

Biden hosted Sinema for a rare one-on-one meeting at the White House on Monday. A group of senators met Tuesday in his office with government officials in hopes of concluding an infrastructure deal that could garner a critical mass of bipartisan support. On Thursday, Sinema left the White House next to Biden while he announced a deal had been made with the group.

Neil Bradley, director general of policies for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has awarded Sinema several awards for its bipartisanship and support for business policies, said the talks between the parties were a natural fit for the senator. .

“Having confidence and credibility not only with Democrats, but also with Republicans… Is like a muscle. You have to build and practice those relationships and you have to build trust,” Bradley said. this, all to have the capacity to be a key legislator at a critical time as in infrastructure “.

With colorful costumes, trendy glasses and neon wigs, which she wore to the pandemic when she couldn’t have her hair dyed platinum blonde at the salon, Sinema usually stands out in a sea of ​​dark dresses in Washington. But his resume is just as distinctive.

Born in Tucson, Arizona, Sinema grew up poor in the Panhandle region of Florida. He graduated from the top of his high school class at age 16 before attending Brigham Young University, a Mormon-affiliated university in Utah. He later returned to Arizona and earned a master’s degree in social work and a law degree.

He left the Mormon church and then went bisexual. According to the Pew Research Center, she is one of two openly LGBT senators and the only member of Congress who identifies as “not religiously affiliated.”

Two decades ago, Sinema was a member of the Arizona Green party, an anti-war activist and self-proclaimed “socialist Prada.” But after finishing last in a five-candidate field in the state legislature, he joined the Democrats and won the election two years later in 2004.

He steadily consolidated as a moderate, first in the Arizona State House and later in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His move to the center has allowed Sinema to open up to accusations of hypocrisy. But critics and allies say the senator has been smart in her quest for power in Arizona, a border state southwest of the desert, where about a third of registered voters are not affiliated with any major party.

Republicans dominated statewide elections for decades with a free market economy and tough immigration policies. But Democrats have done it incursions, helped in part by the influx of immigrants from Latin America and people from California and other states.

In 2018 Sinema became the first Arizona Democrat to be elected to the Senate in 30 years. “He’s done some very clever political calculations that have taken him to the U.S. Senate,” said Chris Love, president of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, the group’s political arm.

He won with the support of centrist, independent Democrats and Republicans disillusioned with Donald Trump. Last month, 45% of Arizona voters had a favorable view of Sinema, a rise two months earlier, when their approval rating dropped to 39% after the minimum wage vote, according to a poll by ‘OH Predictive Insights, partisan research group in Phoenix.

“The right wing or the hard left don’t do it in the general election here,” said Mike Noble of OH Predictive Insights. “What does win across the state is the center, the center-right, or the center-left.”

Noble said the latest results showed that Sinema (which is not in re-election until 2024) is unlikely to be sanctioned by voters for going against the flow.

But that does little to reassure progressives.

“There is latitude. . . people understand that it’s a moderate state, it needs to have those moderate positions, ”said Catherine Alonzo, chief executive of Javelina, a Phoenix-based business and political consulting firm.“ I just think for a lot of people this is just a bridge too far “.