Sinema says she won’t run for reelection, opening pivotal Senate seat

Washington — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced Tuesday she is not running for reelection in Arizona in November, opening up a crucial swing-state Senate seat. 

“Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of the year,” she announced in a video statement.

Sinema left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. But she has continued to caucus with Democrats, helping them keep their narrow majority in the upper chamber. 

She was facing a tough reelection if she decided to run for a second term. Her retirement means November’s election will likely be a two-way race between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake for a seat that could help determine control of the Senate. 

Sinema blamed growing partisanship for her decision to leave Congress.

“Through listening, understanding and compromise, we delivered tangible results that make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” she said. “Yet despite modernizing our infrastructure, ensuring clean water, delivering good jobs and safer communities, Americans still choose to retreat farther to their partisan corners. These solutions are considered failures, either because they’re too much or not nearly enough. It’s all or nothing, the outcome less important than beating the other guy.”

Sinema was recently one of the lead negotiators in talks to craft a bipartisan agreement to improve security along the southern border and overhaul key portions of U.S. asylum law. The group’s plan landed with a thud among Republicans, who had demanded stricter border measures just weeks earlier.

“The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic, attacking your opponents on cable news or social media,” Sinema said in her statement. “Compromise is a dirty word. We’ve arrived at that crossroad. And we chose anger and division.”