The Arizona Democratic Party executive board voted Saturday to censure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a rare rebuke from her own party that could complicate her political future.
“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,” Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán said in a statement.
A source in the meeting told NBC News the censure passed by a unanimous vote.
The executive board meeting of the state party came three days after the first-term senator voted with Republicans to block a rule change aimed at passing major voting rights legislation. In a 48-52 vote, the Senate was unable to pass a motion by Democrats to change the rules and impose a “talking filibuster. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joined Sinema in voting with Republicans to protect the 60-vote rule.
Sinema’s opposition to weakening the filibuster rule has also cost her the support of Emily’s List and NARAL Pro-Choice America, two prominent women’s rights groups that support Democratic candidates and boosted Sinema’s 2018 bid.
President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have described those bills as necessary to save democracy by combating restrictive voting laws in Republican-led states and election subversion attempts propelled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims about a stolen election.
In a statement Wednesday night, Sinema said she supported the two bills but feared that weakening the 60-vote threshold would further divide the country.
“I also maintained my longstanding opposition to separate actions that would deepen our divisions and risk repeated radical reversals in federal policy, cementing uncertainty and further eroding confidence in our government,” she said. “Tonight’s votes must not be the end of our work to protect our democracy.”
Sinema has rankled numerous members of the Arizona Democratic Party since her ascension in Congress. In 2018, she declined to endorse the state’s Democratic candidate for governor against Republican Doug Ducey. Sinema has also been notably absent at official state party events, compared to her tenure in the Arizona Legislature.
In the Saturday statement, Terán praised Sinema’s “leadership” in passing the American Rescue Plan and bipartisan infrastructure law, but added that the “ramifications of failing to pass federal legislation that protects their right to vote are too large and far-reaching.”
Terán said the party is “a diverse coalition with plenty of room for policy disagreements, however 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.”
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Frank Thorp V contributed.
— via www.nbcnews.com
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