Members of the U.S. Senate bid farewell this week to their colleagues who will not be returning to Washington next year, including independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who continues to be a thorn in the side of Democrats in her final weeks in office.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) took a few moments on the Senate floor on Dec. 10 to praise a number of senators who retired or lost their re-election bids, including Sinema, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana).
Warner said Sinema had the unique ability to work across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation, including the Infrastructure and Jobs Act.
“Senator Sinema always made a splash and, often at the end of the day, won her battles,” Warner said. “But for all the ink spilled on Kyrsten, what I think a lot of people failed to see is her incredible ability to talk and build relationships with everyone.”
Warner said Sinema used those skills to aid both Republican and Democratic leadership in the Senate.
Sinema’s well-known independent streak had repeatedly frustrated Democrats even before she officially left the Democratic Party. That included her refusal to vote to eliminate the filibuster in order to pass Democratic priorities like voting access reforms.
Since becoming an independent in 2022, Sinema has continued to caucus with Democratic senators and maintained that willingness to thwart their agenda.
That happened again on Dec. 10 — the same day Warner made his comments — when Sinema, in her first vote since Thanksgiving, and fellow Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin sided with Republicans on a procedural vote to block the reappointment of Democrat Lauren McFerran as chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
That leaves Democrats with a 2-1 advantage on the board charged with protecting employee rights and will give President-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint two new Republicans next year, which would give the GOP control of the NLRB.
