Claytoonz: Sinema's lone howl
Just as Democrats got that one-seat cushion from Raphael Warnock’s victory over Herschel Walker Tuesday night, Arizona's Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has to do this.
Warnock’s victory was going to give the Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate for the next two years. While they could pass tie-breaking votes with the one vote of the president of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris, a true majority would give the party the power to subpoena and control of committees. It also made Joe Manchin, who used the tie in the Senate for personal power, less of a factor. But enter Sinema.
I woke up this morning to the news that Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party and will now register as an independent. This won’t really mean much if she continues to caucus with the Democrats as two other independents, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, have been doing for several years. Sinema probably made this move mostly for attention. What’s scary is that she may continue to seek attention and pull off more dramatic measures to get it.
I hope Sinema enjoys seeking attention and being a wild card for the next two years, because that’s probably all she has left.
Clay Jones is the 2022 recipient of the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award in Editorial Cartooning, and won a 2021 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a finalist for the Herblock Prize in 2019 and a finalist for the National Headliner Award in 2020. See more award-winning editorial cartoons from him at Claytoonz.com.
