Sinema told Politico that switching from a Democrat to an Independent will not caucus with Republicans.
“Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she said.
This will allow Democrats to still maintain a workable majority in the Senate next Congress, which give them the votes to control committees.
Sinema told the Washington Examiner that she plans to “maintain her committee assignments through [a] Democratic majority.”
She currently chairs the Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation subcommittee on the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee and the Government Operations and Border Management subcommittee on the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.
Sinema also sits on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
She told Politico that she does not anticipate anything will change about Senate structure.
“I intend to show up to work, do the same work that I always do. I just intend to show up to work as an independent,” she said.
Unlike fellow Independent Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, Sinema will not attend weekly Democratic Caucus meeting, Politico reports.
In an op-ed in the Arizona Republic, Sinema said Arizonians work and live alongside people with different views “without even thinking about partisan politics,” adding that Washington D.C. “often fails to reflect that expectation.”
Sinema said the national parties’ “rigid partisanship” leaves many everyday Americans behind.
“Pressures in both parties pull leaders to the edges, allowing the loudest, most extreme voices to determine their respective parties’ priorities and expecting the rest of us to fall in line,” she said.
She said Americans face a “false choice” between the increasingly extreme Democratic and Republicans parties and noted that a growing number of of people are registering as Independents .
Sinema said she told her constituents that she would be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results.
“I promised I would never bend to party pressure, and I would stay focused on solving problems and getting things done for everyday Arizonans,” she said.
This “rare” approach in Washington has “upset partisans in both parties” and delivered lasting results for Arizona, Sinema added.
“That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington,” she said. “I registered as an Arizona independent.”
Sinema said this shift will not change her work in the Senate, pledging to continue to protect a woman’s right to choose, LGBTQ rights, Medicare and “Dreamers.”
“This Senate seat doesn’t belong to Democratic or Republican bosses in Washington,” she said. “It doesn’t belong to one party or the other, and it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to Arizona, which is far too special a place to be defined by extreme partisans and ideologues.”
“Senator Sinema has been a key partner on some of the historic legislation President Biden has championed over the last 20 months,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Sinema’s decision to switch parties will not change the new Democratic majority control of the Senate, the White House said.
“We have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her,” Jean-Pierre added.
