The Arizona Democratic Party is ready to move forward with its primary election for the 2024 U.S. Senate race. There's just one problem: the state Democrats have no idea if President Joe Biden or DSCC chief, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), are going to step in and support the Independent candidate Kyrsten Sinema against the Democrat, The Messenger reported Tuesday.
"It is frustrating, and that is one of the reasons we wanted this vote to take place. We wanted the national Democrats (to know) that even in Sinema’s home state, the Democrats are opposed to her," said state party vice chair Deydrek Scott.
At the April state party meeting, the Democrats passed a resolution calling on the national Democratic Party and its leaders like Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Peters, Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and others to "pledge to support the winner of the Arizona Democratic primary for the United States Senate in 2024" instead of the current senator, Kyrsten Sinema, who abandoned the Democrats earlier this year.
"I don’t know how (national Democrats) plan to handle it," said another vice chair, Will Knight. But “now it is incumbent on the national party to support local Arizonans and support what the party here has said."
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Favorability for Kyrsten Sinema is sinking lower after she switched parties, national pollster Public Policy Polling revealed late last month. She is making gains among Republicans, the Morning Consult polls claimed in early April. The problem is that her net favorability in the PPP poll shows a loss of 23 percent. Currently, 54 percent of all voters in the state don't want her to run again, and 27 percent want her to run again.
"That lack of respect for what the people living in Arizona want is very frustrating," said Progress Arizona director Alex Alvarez. He is on an advisory council working to oust Sinema. "It is anger. There was a betrayal there that has never really been acknowledged."
The betrayal for some dates back to the 2021 fight for voting rights. Sinema refused to support a new Voting Rights Act that would have helped protect voters from disenfranchisement measures often seen in red states. The law also would have fixed the gerrymandering problem, which has become an issue more for Republicans but something Democrats have done in states like Maryland.
“She has betrayed her constituents,” Allie Young, a citizen of the Diné, or Navajo Nation told The Guardian in 2021. “The sort of inaction that she’s taking right now is an action and it’s making the BIPOC community, especially in Arizona, distrust her more and more as the days go by.”
A Democratic Party leader who asked not to be named told The Messenger, “I am disappointed and embarrassed.”
It's a delicate situation for Biden and Harris, who need Arizona voters to support them again in 2024. If they pick the wrong horse, they could alienate the others' voters. The lack of choosing, however, could disappoint Democrats, who will be needed in droves for the Biden ticket.
Biden has one "out," and that's the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). Peters could be the one to make the hard choice and make it clear that the Democrats will support the Democratic candidate, whoever that might be, after the primary.
The PPP polls show regardless of the matchup, Sinema is losing. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) doesn't have statewide name recognition yet, but his approval is already higher than Sinema's. A matchup against him and Kari Lake would put him at 42 percent, Lake at 35 percent, and Sinema at 14 percent. The numbers are similar for other Republicans without the baggage Lake has. If Jim Lamon or Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is the GOP nominee, Gallego still wins, with Sinema as a distant third.
