Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection.
The moderate senator’s decision to bow out allows her to avoid a three-way contest for her seat and creates a likely matchup between Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake.
“Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year,” Sinema said in a video message on Tuesday.
A message for Arizonans from Senator Kyrsten Sinema pic.twitter.com/1XWFSWgGdh
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) March 5, 2024
Sinema first joined the Senate in 2018, when she became the first non-Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in the state since 1994.
She left the Democratic party in December 2022 after serving as a roadblock to some of the party’s more progressive efforts, including a plan to repeal the filibuster. Yet she was often still a key vote on Biden’s judicial and executive-branch nominee.
The race for Sinema’s vacant seat could determine party control of the Senate, where Democrats and Democratic-aligned independents make up a narrow 51 to 49 majority.
Sinema’s announcement comes as she faced what was expected to be an uphill battle if she ran to hold onto her seat as an independent. Sinema’s team previously circulated a memo that identified her path to victory as winning 10 to 20 percent of Democrats, 60 to 70 percent of independent voters, and 25 to 25 percent of Republicans, according to the Wall Street Journal. The idea that Sinema could hit these margins was largely wishcasting as the figures far exceeded her success with independents and Republicans in 2018.