Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Has A Headache And It Has A Name: Rep. Ruben Gallego

FEATURED PHOTO: ARIZONA REPRESENTATIVE RUBEN GALLEGO

Yahoo.com, By Laurie Roberts-THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Posted January 27th 2022

I envision Sen. Kyrsten Sinema reaching for the Excedrin.

Arizona’s senior senator became public enemy No. 1 within her own party when she forced President Joe Biden into a ditch in her headlong pursuit of reelection in 2024.

But did she miscalculate?

Keep your eyes on Rep. Ruben Gallego.

Sinema has long clung to the middle of the road. Oh, not because it’s her natural inclination. She was once a Green Party activist, considered “too extreme” even for the Democratic Party when she first ran for the state Legislature in central Phoenix in 2002.

Her move to the middle was a savvy calculation, one she made in order to climb the political food chain in what was then a deep red state.

Sinema won because of moderate voters

Sure, the state is changing. Sinema’s the first Democrat Arizona has sent to the Senate in three decades. But she didn’t win by much in 2018 and that victory over then-Rep. Martha McSally, R-Trump, came with the support of moderate Republicans and independent voters.

The sort who were having buyer’s remorse over their 2016 vote for Trump.

The sort who aren’t all that excited about ending the filibuster and allowing progressive bills to flow forth.

Thus came the decision by Sinema to put on a purple dress and take to the Senate floor last week to announce (yet again) her support for the filibuster.

Before, liberals just had to deal with Sinema

Liberals are furious with her refusal to vote to suspend the filibuster so the voting rights bill she supports could pass on a partyline vote.

In the past, their fury hasn’t mattered. It was either Sinema’s way or the Republican highway. Democrats didn’t have a viable Plan B.

Until now, perhaps.

Rep. Ruben Gallego was all set to run for the Senate in 2020 until old-school party leaders waved him off, calculating (wisely) that the more moderate Mark Kelly stood a better chance of winning.

He did. But like Sinema, he didn’t beat McSally (in her second run for the Senate) by much.

Gallego’s been grumbling all week about Sinema’s disloyalty, telling CNN that “more than one” Senate Democrat has approached him about challenging her in a primary.

What if Ruben Gallego were to run?

On Thursday, he absolutely unloaded on his Democratic colleague.

“Nobody in the state has seen hide nor hair of her for the last three years … ,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. “She hasn’t had one town hall; everything she does is scripted. She says she refuses to negotiate in public, but we want to know who is she negotiating for? Is it for Arizonans? Or is it for the pharmaceutical companies or whatever other interests that she is more likely to have meetings with than it is with the actual constituents?”

(Sinema’s spokesman told CNN she’s met with various leaders and held tele-town halls.)

Gallego could beat Sinema in a primary. Probably, at this point, Krusty the Clown could beat Sinema in Democratic primary. Gallego has a great story and he’s a rising star on the left.

The question is, could he win the general election?

Two years ago, no way.

But two years from now?

That’s the calculation Democrats need to make.

Could he win? Depends on the GOP

If Republicans regain their sanity in the next two years and put up a candidate with broad appeal, Gallego would have a hard time pulling out a win.

Democrats would have no choice but to stick with Sinema or risk losing the seat altogether.

If, however, Republicans continue their bizarre obsession with Donald Trump and nominate, as Arizona Mirror’s Jim Small put it, “a Big Lie-spouting, pandemic-downplaying, misinformation-peddling Republican”?

If state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward is the nominee, hoping the third time’s the charm, or someone like her?

Gallego’s fortunes would dramatically improve.

And since, at this point, there appear to be precious few Republicans outside of Team MAGA who could win a Republican primary …

Well, you can see why Sinema might be feeling a headache coming on.