Sen. Kyrsten Sinema censured by Arizona Democratic Party

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The Arizona Democratic Party's executive committee formally censured Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Saturday morning as a result of her inaction on changing the filibuster rules to pass voting rights reform.

"...on the matter of the filibuster and the urgency to protect voting rights, we have been crystal clear. In the choice between an archaic legislative norm and protecting Arizonans’ right to vote, we choose the latter, and we always will," Chairwoman Raquel Teran said in a statement.

"While we take no pleasure in this announcement, the ADP Executive Board has decided to formally censure Senator Sinema as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.”

Sinema is facing renewed heat from those who helped elect her after she and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia this week were the only two Democrats to vote against filibuster reform, effectively derailing passage of voting rights legislation.

The slim Democratic majority in the Senate meant filibuster reform was seen as crucial for passing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act -- a top priority for Democrats and President Joe Biden.

Arizona Democrats organized heavily to elect Sinema to the Senate -- she previously served in the U.S. House -- helping give her a narrow victory. They lobbied Sinema for months to change her stance on the filibuster, but many were unable to get a meeting with the senate.

With her refusal to change the filibuster rule -- siding with Republicans -- and voting rights dead for now in the Senate, Democrats in Arizona are fundraising to support Sinema's primary challenger in 2024. Influential Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said this week that he'd support a challenge to Sinema.

The Grand Canyon state is a hotspot for Republican-led changes on voting. After the 2020 election, the state Senate ordered a partisan review of millions of the state's ballots, which unfolded while the Republican-controlled state legislature expressed focus on restrictive voting bills. Republicans all but eliminated the state's permanent early voting list, making it so ballots are no longer automatically sent to voters who haven't used the system. The bills were a cornerstone of GOP lawmaking in 2021, and the 2022 session continues to focus on election reform.

Activists and voters at home point to these Republican-led efforts as a backdrop for Sinema's refusal to budge.

Sinema lost a major endorsement this week from Emily's List, a large political organization that bankrolls campaigns they endorse, including those who support abortion rights.

Is it possible for Biden to EO the voting rights bill and BBB?

damn. screwed over by the GOP and traitorous DINOs yet again.

sinema and manchin know full well that the voting rights act is the only thing saving democracy for average folk [not white and rich and male]. and they chickened out or got bought out.

It's easy money to bet she won't get reelected after betraying her constituency's political ideals. Broadcasting that she's bisexual can only take her so far when compared to her voting record.
The idea that she thinks she can run for President shows she's possibly delusional.

Wasn't a senator or congressman censured (republican) because they didn't support Trump 100%?. It goes to show both parties have alot of similarities. Both demand absolute adherence to their principles.

both her and manchin will go GOP sometime.

Wasn't a senator or congressman censured (republican) because they didn't support Trump 100%?. It goes to show both parties have alot of similarities. Both demand absolute adherence to their principles.

The Arizona Republican Party sent a clear signal Saturday that its leadership remains loyal to former President Donald Trump when it voted to publicly punish Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, all of whom opposed Trump's efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's victory, or in the case of Flake and McCain, endorsed the Democrat before the election.

Biden flipped Arizona last fall -- the first time a Democrat has carried the state in a presidential election since Bill Clinton won the state in 1996 -- and Democrat Mark Kelly defeated Martha McSally in the US Senate race, just two years after McSally lost the state's other Senate seat to a Democrat.

The three Republicans are being formally censured for what the state party described in its meeting as a variety of "failures."

The party censured Ducey for imposing emergency rules as Covid-19 gripped Arizona, saying those emergency orders to contain the virus violated the Constitution and amounted to the governor enacting "dictatorial powers."

McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain, who endorsed Biden during the election, was censured for supporting "leftist causes" and failing to support Trump.

Flake, a CNN contributor, was also condemned for supporting Biden in the election.

I think they'll take Manchin, but I think the GOP is too prejudiced to accept an openly bisexual woman.