Yahoo Movies ‘Morning Joe’ Goes in on Kyrsten Sinema’s Switch to Independent: Many Dems Will ‘Be Saying This Morning, Good Riddance!’ (Video)
Kyrsten Sinema’s headline-making announcement Friday morning that she’s registering as an Independent rather than a Democrat took many by surprise on Capitol Hill. And while “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough thinks many Democrats will be frustrated since they just secured a 51-49 majority, he also believes that others won’t be so sad to see the divisive senator leave.
“This actually seems like a pretty smart political move for her,” Scarborough said, “and there are a lot of Democrats who are going to be saying this morning, ‘Good riddance!'”
Sitting with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Arizona Sen. Sinema said, “I’ve registered as an Arizona independent. I know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually, I think it makes a lot of sense. A growing number of Arizonans and people like me just don’t feel like we fit neatly into one party’s box or the other. And so, like many across the state and the nation, I’ve decided to leave that partisan process and really just focus on the work that I think matters to Arizona and to our country, which is solving problems and getting things done.”
“It’s always interesting isn’t it, in the mind of Kyrsten Sinema? We don’t actually know what’s going on in the mind of Kyrsten Sinema. But sometimes, we can look at her and we can ask ourselves: What’s she thinking? What’s going on in that mind of hers?” Scarborough said, responding to the news.
While she didn’t explicitly say as much, “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire figured that Sinema was “telegraphing” in the announcement that she will continue to caucus with the Democratic Party, much like Vermont and Maine’s independent senators, Bernie Sanders and Angus King. She said she intends to stay on the various committees and subcommittees she’s a chair or member of, which are currently controlled by the Democrats’ majority.
“We don’t know yet how much this will change,” Lemire added. “Democrats have 51 votes in the Senate. But it certainly seems to be a signal from Sinema that they shouldn’t count on her support. We know that she was frustrating to say the least over the last few years for many Democrats. She didn’t support a lot of their initiatives.”
That’s when Scarborough concluded that it actually makes “pretty good sense” for Sinema to leave the party and become Independent.
“You look at her poll numbers in the state of Arizona. Politically, it makes pretty good sense, she does well with independents. She does OK with Republicans, not quite as well with Democrats. So her approval ratings over the past few years while she’s been criticized in Washington, D.C., have been fairly strong in Arizona and typically a little bit stronger than Mark Kelly’s.”
“Yes, I think Democrats are going to be frustrated, but at the same time, she was going to be facing a tough primary challenge in a state where she’s not beloved by Democrats,” he added.
Citing the success of such senators as King and Sanders, Scarborough concluded that in a swing state like Arizona, being more middle-of-the-road and not being tied to the Democratic Party’s will may ultimately help Sinema’s success.
“This seems to make a lot of political sense for Kyrsten Sinema. It may end up backfiring, but if you just look at Arizona, you look at the number of independents, you look at the fact that it’s, really, it’s deeply swing state along with Georgia right now – this actually seems like a pretty smart political move for her, he said. “And there are a lot of Democrats who are going to be saying this morning, ‘Good riddance!'”
You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment in the video above.
