‘People Need to Know She Sucks’: Kyrsten Sinema’s Volunteers, Ex-Staff Are Fed Up

Authored by vice.com and submitted by jsinkwitz
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Dunn, a leader in the local chapter of the Indivisible progressive activist group in Prescott, Arizona, was introduced to Sinema at a campaign event and was blown away by the Senate candidate’s poise and her impressive life story. Her group hosted Sinema multiple times for events. Dunn volunteered, by her estimation, for more than 100 hours to elect Sinema and other Democrats that election cycle.

“I was very impressed. I had literature, I did canvassing for her, I contributed, I campaigned. We did everything we possibly could to get her elected. We were very excited about her. We knew she was a Democrat who had centrist tendencies, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Here in Arizona and especially our area, you have to be realistic over who you could elect. We were thrilled. She seemed like the real thing,” she told VICE News.

“I’m livid. I can only call her a turncoat,” Dunn said. “I feel betrayed.”

Sinema’s Wednesday vote against changing the filibuster, which kept the 60-vote margin for most major bills and effectively killed Democrats’ efforts to pass voting rights legislation, is the latest in a long line of votes that have enraged and upset some of the people who worked hard to put her in office. Dunn said for her, it was the “last straw.”

VICE News talked to more than a dozen Arizona Democratic activists and former staffers who actively worked to elect Sinema during her 2018 race. Many expressed their frustration not just with her voting record but also with her inaccessibility, her seeming delight at infuriating her party’s base, and her unwillingness to meet. All said that they’d likely vote against her in a primary if she runs in 2024.

NorthwestTreeOctopus on January 21st, 2022 at 15:55 UTC »

It would be marvelous if current staff just up and left her, leaving her by her lonesome. No one on staff to abuse, no one to praise her, no one to cater to her. Just walk out on this shitty person.

oneredflag on January 21st, 2022 at 15:44 UTC »

I actually assume she won’t run for re-election. Most likely has a soft landing lined up via donors.

jsinkwitz on January 21st, 2022 at 15:40 UTC »

Only eight percent of Arizona registered Democrats held a favorable opinion of Sinema as of Jan. 14, according to a tracking poll from the Democratic firm Civiqs—and that was before she voted to uphold the filibuster this week.

There's been a lot of talk here in AZ about a primary challenge...we'll see.