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The media shrugged. MSNBC personalities piled on. Joy Behar called her an enemy of democracy. Joy Reid mocked her op-ed defending the filibuster, tweeting, “Arizona, you up?”
This was the lesson Sinema was learning early on: Democrats don’t forgive independence.
Punishment Follows Independence
By 2022, Sinema had reached her limit. She switched her registration to independent and chose not to seek re-election in 2024.
The left celebrated her departure—but they weren’t done.
Emails later obtained by the New York Post revealed that the Biden Justice Department and FBI discussed opening a criminal investigation into Sinema in February 2024, more than a year after she left the party. D.C. prosecutor Elizabeth Aloi suggested charging her with campaign finance violations. FBI agent Walter Giardina responded, “I’m interested in looking at the Sinema referral if its [sic] something you’re looking to assign.”
Her chief of staff Daniel Winkler called it what it was: “Walter Giardina, who led politically motivated investigations at the FBI, sought to investigate Kyrsten for partisan political reasons after she defied Biden and the Senate Democrats to protect the filibuster.”
The case never went anywhere—not for lack of trying, but because there was nothing to prosecute. Sinema had escaped the mob, only to see it try to weaponize law enforcement against her.
A New Platform
On Monday, it was announced that Sinema is joining The Washington Reporter as a contributing columnist.
Founded in 2024 by former Republican congressional aides Brian Colas and Garrett Ventry, the outlet has backing exceeding $1 million from conservative donors. Colas explained the hire: “The Reporter is a center-right publication, but our aim is to reach a bipartisan audience. For Sen. Sinema, our Republican audience finds her insights fascinating, especially on policy debates like AI and drug pricing and financial services.”
The response, he added, has been “unanimously positive.”
The Democrats Who Tried to Destroy Her Now Need What She Saved
The irony is striking. Chuck Schumer spent years trying to force Sinema to eliminate the filibuster. Joy Behar publicly called her an enemy of democracy. Biden’s Justice Department tried to create a criminal case against her.
And now? Republicans control the Senate, Donald Trump is back in the White House, and the filibuster Sinema defended is the one tool Schumer has left to maintain relevance.
He owes her. He won’t admit it.
Kyrsten Sinema, however, has moved on. She’s writing for a conservative newsroom, and Republican Hill staffers who call her insights “fascinating” aren’t returning Schumer’s calls.
The Democrats didn’t lose her because she failed them. They lost her because they chose to destroy her. And Sinema made her choice too.
