Sinema Defends Ditching the Democrats at Davos, Argues 2022 Midterm Result Validates Her Efforts to Preserve the Filibuster

Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) joined a panel called “America (Un)Bound” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday and defended her recent move to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent – accusing Democrats of “overreaching” in their recent calls to end the filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

“So as folks know, I have declared formally declared my independence from what I consider to be a deeply broken two-party system,” Sinema began after the moderator, Børge Brende, asked about her December exit from the party.

“Those who know me know that I was always an independent voice and always have been for the things that I believe in and for my state and for my country. But I do think it’s important to note that then what you’ve heard about partisanship, I believe, is accurate,” Sinema continued, referring to earlier remarks on the panel lambasting the polarization in the U.S.

“You know, in the last two years, we think, you know, January 6th, which is a horrible day from two years ago, created, I think, concern and fear for every patriotic American across the country. But in the resulting two years, the Democratic Party shared a narrative that said we would not have any more free and fair elections in this country if the United States Congress didn’t eliminate the filibuster and pass a massive voting rights package,” Sinema continued, adding:

As you, as we all know, the filibuster was not eliminated. Joe and I were not interested in sacrificing that important guardrail for the institution. That massive voting rights bill was not passed through Congress. And then we had a free and fair election all across the country. And as has been noted, the outcome of that election was different than many people expected.

Most election deniers lost across the country and individuals of both political parties, some extreme, some moderate, won. So we had a free and fair election. So one could posit that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail and instead in an institution in our country may have been premature or overreaching in order to get the short-term victories they wanted.

“Let me fast forward to where we are today. And we saw the House of Representatives struggle for multiple days in a row as Kevin McCarthy, dear friend of mine, had to continue conceding point after point after point to the radical right of the GOP to a point where he’s now in an unenviable position that will make it very difficult for us to meet our obligation when the debt limit fight comes up later this year,” Sinema added.

“Those are just two examples of the pull that you see political parties giving in order to get everything they want,” she concluded.

Sinema was sitting next to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on the panel, which also included Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).

Ahead of Sinema’s remarks, Manchin called out “the open press system” and “all the platforms” as fueling tribal politics.

“So if you’re able to have five platforms, social platforms, that you can basically personify the extremes, somebody who is extremely right or extremely left. And it seems like that is the majority speaking. They’re not the majority, but they’re basically driving everybody to make a decision. What side are you on, you on this side or this side?” Manchin explained.

“And in America, there’s only one side, the American side. It’s not the Republican side or Democrat. We should be coming together to solve the problems from a different angle,” he concluded.

Watch the full clips above

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