SInema Verite', Con't

It's a long road to 2024 and keeping the Senate will be a massive challenge, but Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego says he's coming for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona, and the sparks will fly.

 

Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego on Monday plans to launch a challenge against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, CBS News has learned.

Gallego, an outspoken liberal Democrat, has long been critical of Sinema, who dropped her party identification as a Democrat to be an independent just after the party won the Senate last year. The Arizona senator still aligns herself with the Senate Democratic caucus, though.

Sinema said at the time that she changed her party affiliation because she "never fit neatly into any party box", but the label switch prompted an immediate backlash from many Democrats, including Gallego.

Democratic sources close to Gallego say the Marine veteran plans to launch his Senate campaign with a video, in both Spanish and English on Monday and then launch a national media tour to promote his announcement.

 

Sinema meanwhile continues to hang out at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where's she's hobnobbing with Sen. Joe Manchin and having a good laugh over blocking the filibuster for the last two years.

 

Sens. Kirsten Sinema (I-Az.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) high-fived over their efforts to block Senate filibuster reform on stage at a panel with other U.S. lawmakers and governors in Davos, Switzerland.

Sinema was touting the duo’s accomplishments as a moderating force in the Senate — which included blocking changes to the filibuster — when Manchin chimed in.

“We still don’t agree on getting rid of the filibuster,” Manchin said before they turned to each other and high-fived.

The lawmakers’ intransigence on the filibuster effectively blocked key Democratic legislative priorities, such as voting rights reforms and codifying abortion rights, over the past two years. Sinema, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent last month, used the outing at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to take a victory lap.

“While some would say that there were reluctant folks working in Congress in the last two years,” she said, gesturing at herself and Manchin, “I would actually say that was the basis for the productivity for some incredible achievements that made a difference for the American people in the last two years.”

Sinema was apparently jabbing back at fellow panelist Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker (D), who had knocked the senators for their pushback to some of President Biden’s agenda. 

 

Whoever wins the Dem primary will almost certainly draw a match against Kari Lake, and frankly this is a seat Dems cannot afford to lose. The reality is that a three way match may actually break Gallego's way.

But that's a long way off. We've battles to fight right now, and that includes Manchin and Sinema.