Key Democrat Snubs Obama During Last-Minute Hail Mary Attempt to Secure Battleground State
Even the appearance of Democrat god-king Barack Obama in Arizona wasn’t enough to induce Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to save her fellow party members, apparently.
According to Fox News, Sinema skipped a rally in Phoenix on Wednesday where the former president was trying to buttress embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, both of whom are in danger of losing races once thought to be comfortably in their grasp.
During the rally, Obama called upon Arizona voters to reject election “deniers” — a clear reference to GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who’s leading in the race despite being labeled an election conspiracy theorist and an extremist.
“If you’ve got election deniers serving as your governor, as your senator, as your secretary of state, as your attorney general, then democracy as we know it may not survive in Arizona,” Obama said.
“That’s not an exaggeration. That is a fact.”
Sinema’s absence was notable, however, particularly in a state where moderate voters might put Kelly and Hobbs over the top. Democratic officials confirmed she’d been invited to attend but wasn’t there.
“She was not in Phoenix today for another commitment and so couldn’t join,” a Democratic Party spokeswoman told The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts.
As Roberts noted, with a soupçon of misogyny, Arizona’s senior senator isn’t terribly happy with her party, nor them with her.
“I guess it’s not surprising that Sinema was washing her hair or whatever,” Roberts wrote. “Democrats are still steamed that she voted against an increase in the federal minimum wage and party leaders censured her earlier this year for aligning with Republicans and supporting the filibuster.”
However, even the liberal columnist was forced to admit that “Sinema is the Democrats’ superpower this year – or she should be.”
“She’s the highest ranking Democrat in the state and while her own party doesn’t much like her, independents and moderate Republicans do,” Roberts wrote. “So, where is she?”
While a spokeswoman for Kelly said Sinema had hosted a fundraiser for him and fired off fundraising emails to support the cause, that’s not exactly appearing a big unity rally with him and/or Obama.
It also doesn’t help that Kelly’s opponent, GOP nominee and venture capitalist Blake Masters, is using Sinema against him.
“[Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer owns Mark Kelly,” Masters said in an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Mail. “Chuck Schumer does not own Kyrsten Sinema. He wishes he did.”
“Everyone knows [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell won’t own me,” he said.
And as for Sinema herself, Masters said, “She’s a very talented politician. She’s good. She’s active. She’s really actively engaged. And I hear this from Republicans — if you got a problem, you call Sinema’s office, you get a response.”
The race between Kelly and Masters has been narrowing, something that has Democrats panicking. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Kelly led Masters by only 2.0 points as of Friday morning — although four of the five most recent polls had Masters at 2 points or closer, including one that had him tied with Kelly.
Furthermore, Masters got a boost when Libertarian Party candidate Marc Victor dropped out of the race earlier this week and endorsed Masters. Many had expected the candidate to play a spoiler role in the race.
As for Katie Hobbs, she’s in even more trouble. The RealClearPolitics average has Lake up by 1.8 points, and Hobbs hasn’t been up in a single poll counted in the aggregate since mid-October. The Democratic candidate has faced blowback for her refusal to debate Lake and hasn’t helped her cause any by having the personality of an overcooked piece of linguine, either.
Thus, having any “commitment” aside from propping up two failing candidates in her home state — where Obama, still the party’s biggest star despite his veep being in the Oval Office now, felt it was important to tarry on Wednesday during his hectic campaign schedule — is indicative of Sinema’s gross disillusionment with her own party. Could she become a Republican, then?
Unfortunately, you’re just as likely to find Sinema in the GOP Senate caucus as you were at Wednesday’s Obama speech in Phoenix. While Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said he’s tried to recruit her to the GOP side several times, Sinema told Politico last year she’s staying put.
“No. Why would I do that?” she told the outlet when asked if she might be hopping to the Republicans.
That said, if the Democrats lose control of the Senate and the governor’s mansion in Arizona, the left might become a very frosty place for Sinema.
Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon predicted in September that Arizona’s senior senator will jump ship following the 2024 campaign, according to Newsweek.
Whatever the case, if the GOP takes back the upper chamber and she continues to work with Republicans, Sinema might find it advantageous to drop her party altogether and come in from the cold.
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