Bernie Sanders slams Kyrsten Sinema as ‘corporate Democrat’ after she switch to independent

Bernie Sanders said he would consider backing Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s challenger in 2024 while GOP Senator Jon Tester said her leaving the Democratic Party doesn’t ‘functionally’ change anything in Congress.

Sanders, a far-left independent who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, slammed Sinema as a ‘corporate Democrat’ who has ‘sabotaged enormously important legislation.’

Sinema was first elected to the Senate for Arizona in 2018 as a Democrat, and after years of being considered one of the most moderate Democrats, she last week quit the party to become an independent.

‘I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on Senator Sinema,’ Sanders told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. ‘She has her reasons. I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona.’

Most of Arizona’s registered voters are Republicans, making up 34.67 percent of the voting bloc in the southern border state. But in a close second are independent voters with 33.89 percent – making it not too odd of a move for Sinema to realign with that voting bloc.

Democrats only make up 30.66 percent of voters in Arizona.

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema quit the Democratic Party last week and switched to independent

Sanders, however, speculated that Democratic voters in the state are probably not happy with Sinema’s decision to oppose Democratic legislation this past year.

‘I think the Democrats there are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helped sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth,’ the Vermont independent senator said. ‘So, I think it really has to do with her political aspirations for the future in Arizona.’

Montana Senator Jon Tester, a Republican, echoed Sanders’ sentiment on NBC Meet the Press Sunday morning when claiming that Sinema’s flip doesn’t change much in the Senate.

The 2022 midterms saw Democrats pick up one more seat in the upper chamber, widening their razor-thin majority from 50-50 to 51-49 after the Georgia runoff win last week. But just days later, Sinema made the move to switch to independent, which won’t change the majority lean considering she will still caucus with Democrats.

‘I was surprised she made the change,’ Tester admitted. ‘But functionally, I don’t think that change is a thing.’

‘I think we’re gonna continue doing the same thing that we were doing, whether she was independent or part of the Democratic caucus, because she’s going to continue to caucus with the Democrats,’ he said.

GOP Senator Jon Tester joined other Republicans in saying the switch doesn’t do much since Sinema will still caucus with Democrats in the upper chamber 

‘For us, I think nothing much has changed in terms of the functioning of the U.S. Senate. The good news is that we now have 51 votes,’ Sanders said in his CNN interview Sunday morning.

‘We will have the majority on committees,’ he added. ‘I would hope very much that, with this new majority, Democrats will sit down and start fighting for the needs of ordinary Americans.’

The 2022 midterms did see Republicans win back a majority in the House, meaning that Democrats will not control the entire legislature.

Sanders told CNN’s Dana Bash that he would consider supporting a Democrat that could take on Sinema in her reelection in 2024.

‘I support progressive candidates all over this country, people who have the guts to take on powerful special interests,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what’s going to be happening in Arizona. We will see who they nominate. But, certainly, that’s something I will take a hard look at.’

When asked if Sinema has the ‘guts’ he speaks of, Sanders replied: ‘No, she doesn’t. She is a corporate Democrat who has, in fact, along with Senator Manchin, sabotaged enormously important legislation.’