Kyrsten Sinema


Kyrsten Lea Sinema is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator for Arizona since January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as a state representative for Arizona's 15th legislative district from 2005 to 2011, one term as the state senator for Arizona's 15th legislative district from 2011 to 2012, and three terms as the United States Representative for from 2013 to 2019.
Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party before joining the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004. She rose to prominence for her advocacy of LGBT rights and same-sex marriage in Arizona. She won the 2012 United States House of Representatives election in Arizona's 9th congressional district. After her election to the United States Congress, she joined the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and amassed a moderate voting record. She won the 2018 United States Senate election in Arizona to replace the retiring Jeff Flake, defeating Republican nominee Martha McSally.
As an openly bisexual woman, Sinema has made history several times through her electoral success. In 2012, she became the first openly bisexual person and the second openly LGBT woman elected to Congress. In 2018, she became the first openly bisexual person and the second openly LGBT person elected to the United States Senate as well as the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona.

Early life, education and private career

Kyrsten Lea Sinema was born in Tucson, Arizona on July 12, 1976, to Marilyn and Dan Sinema. She is of Frisian descent and her patrilineal line can be traced back 19 generations to Sywvol Zennema, who was born in the village of Heeg, Netherlands in 1425. Her great-great-grandfather Lieuwe Jacobs Sinnema emigrated at a young age with his father Jacob Jans Sinnema to the United States in 1867 from the village of Bitgum, in the Dutch province of Friesland. They initially moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and later her great-great-grandfather settled in Twin Falls, Idaho, where her great-grandfather Jacob Sinema and grandfather Gerald Sinema were brought up. Her grandfather relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where her father, Dan Sinema, was born in 1949.
Sinema has two siblings, an older brother and younger sister. Her father was an attorney. Her parents divorced when she was a child and her mother, who had custody of the children, remarried. With her siblings, mother, and stepfather, Sinema moved to DeFuniak Springs, Florida, a small town in the Panhandle. When her stepfather lost his job and the bank foreclosed on their home, the family lived for three years in a remodeled gas station. Sinema has said that for two years they had no toilet or electricity while living there. She later recalled, "My stepdad built a bunk bed for me and my sister. We separated our bunk bed from the kitchen with one of those big chalkboards on rollers. I knew that was weird. A chalkboard shouldn't be a wall. A kitchen should have running water." Sinema was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to journalist Jonathan Martin in The New York Times, Sinema has given "contradictory answers about her early life", and Sinema's mother and stepfather had filed court documents saying they had made monthly payments for gas, electricity, and phone bills, even though Sinema had said they had been "without running water or electricity". Asked whether she had embellished details from her childhood, Sinema said, "I've shared what I remember from my childhood. I know what I lived through."
Sinema graduated as valedictorian from Walton High School at age 16 and went on to earn her B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1995 at age 18. She left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after graduating from BYU. Sinema returned to Arizona in 1995.
Sinema worked as a social worker from 1995 to 2002 in the Phoenix metropolitan area's Washington Elementary School District and received a Master of Social Work degree from Arizona State University in 1999. In 2004 she earned a J.D. degree from Arizona State University College of Law and became a criminal defense lawyer. In 2003 Sinema also became an adjunct professor teaching master's-level policy and grant-writing classes at Arizona State University School of Social Work and an adjunct Business Law Professor at Arizona Summit Law School, formerly known as Phoenix School of Law. In 2008, Sinema completed the program for senior executives in state and local government as a Leadership Fellow. In 2012 she earned a Ph.D. in justice studies, also from Arizona State.

Early political involvement

Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party before joining the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004.
In 2000, Sinema worked on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign. In 2001 and 2002, she ran for local elected offices as an independent and lost. In 2002, The Arizona Republic published a letter from Sinema criticizing capitalism. "Until the average American realizes that capitalism damages her livelihood while augmenting the livelihoods of the wealthy, the Almighty Dollar will continue to rule", she wrote.
Sinema had organized 15 antiwar rallies by the time the Iraq War began. She also opposed the war in Afghanistan. During a February 15, 2003 protest in Patriot's Square Park in Phoenix, a group led by Sinema distributed flyers portraying a U.S. servicemember as a skeleton "inflicting 'U.S. terror' in Iraq and the Middle East". In a 2003 opinion piece, Sinema declared that Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush were "'the real Saddam and Osama lovers'". When asked on a local radio show whether she would oppose someone joining the Taliban and fighting on its behalf, Sinema responded, "'Fine… I don't care if you want to do that, go ahead.'" During 2005 and 2006, Sinema co-hosted a radio show with 9/11 truther Jeff Farias.

Arizona State Legislature

Elections

Sinema first ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in 2002, as an independent affiliated with the Arizona Green Party. She finished in last place in a five-candidate field, receiving 8% of the vote.
Sinema joined the Democratic Party in 2004. That year, Sinema and David Lujan won the Democratic primaries for Arizona's 15th district, with 37% of the vote for Sinema and 34% for Lujan over incumbent representative Wally Straughn. Sinema was subsequently reelected three times with over 30% of the vote. In 2009 and 2010 Sinema was an assistant Minority Leader for the Democratic Caucus of the Arizona House of Representatives.
In 2010, Sinema was elected to the Arizona Senate, defeating Republican Bob Thomas, 63% to 37%.

Tenure

According to Elle, "her first public comment as an elected official came in 2005, after a Republican colleague's speech insulted LGBT people. 'We're simply people like everyone else who want and deserve respect', she passionately declared. Later, when reporters asked about her use of the first person, Sinema replied, 'Duh, I'm bisexual.
In 2006, Sinema told a radio host that she was "the most liberal member of the Arizona State Legislature". Also in 2006 she sponsored a bill urging the adoption of the DREAM Act and co-chaired Arizona Together, the statewide campaign that defeated Proposition 107, which would have banned the recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Arizona. In 2006 Sinema was asked about "new feminism", and responded, "'These women who act like staying at home, leeching off their husbands or boyfriends, and just cashing the checks is some sort of feminism because they're choosing to live that life. That's bullshit. I mean, what the fuck are we really talking about here?'" After facing criticism, Sinema apologized and said the interview format was intended to be a "light-hearted spoof". "I was raised by a stay-at-home mom," she said. "So, she did a pretty good job with me."
Sinema campaigned against Proposition 107, a referendum to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Arizona. In 2008, she led the campaign against Proposition 102, another referendum that would have banned the recognition of same-sex marriage in Arizona. Proposition 102 was approved with 56% of the vote in the general election on November 4, 2008. Sinema chaired a coalition called Protect Arizona's Freedom, which defeated Ward Connerly's goal to place an initiative on the state ballot that would eliminate equal-opportunity programs.
In June 2009, Sinema was one of 32 state legislators appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Health Reform Task Force, which helped shape the Affordable Care Act. "Thanks in part to her hard work in improving the bill", she was invited to attend the Obamacare bill signing at the White House in March 2010.
In 2010, Sinema sponsored a bill to give in-state tuition to veterans; it was held in committee and did not receive a vote. Also in 2010, Sinema was named one of Time magazine's "40 Under 40". The Center for Inquiry gave Sinema its Award for the Advancement of Science and Reason in Public Policy in 2011.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2012

In June 2011 Sinema said she was considering running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. She lived in the same Phoenix neighborhood as incumbent Democratic congressman Ed Pastor, but was adamant that she would not challenge another Democrat in a primary. On January 3, 2012, Sinema announced her bid for Congress, in the 9th congressional district. The district had previously been the 5th, represented by freshman Republican David Schweikert; it contained 60% of the old 5th's territory. Schweikert had been drawn into the 6th District—the old 3rd District—and sought reelection there.
Although Sinema was not required to resign her State Senate seat under Arizona's resign-to-run laws, she did so on the same day that she announced her candidacy. On August 28, 2012, Sinema won the three-way Democratic primary with nearly 42% of the vote. Her opponents, state Senator David Schapira and former Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny, a former speechwriter in the Clinton administration, each finished with less than 30% of the vote.
In the general election, Sinema ran against Republican nominee Vernon Parker, the former mayor of Paradise Valley. She was endorsed by The Arizona Republic. The campaign was described as a "nasty", "bitterly fought race that featured millions of dollars in attack ads". Parker ran campaign ads that accused Sinema of being an "anti-American hippie" who practiced "Pagan rituals". The Republican-aligned outside group American Future Fund spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attack ads against Sinema. When her religious views were raised as an issue, her campaign said that she simply believes in a secular approach to government.
The November 6 election was initially too close to call, because Arizona election authorities failed to count more than 25% of the votes on election day. Sinema held a narrow lead over Parker, while provisional and absentee ballots were still being counted. On November 12, when it was apparent that Sinema's lead was too large for Parker to overcome, the Associated Press called the race for Sinema. Once all ballots were counted, Sinema won by 4.1 percentage points, over 10,000 votes. Libertarian Powell Gammill finished third with 6.64% of the votes. When she took office on January 3, 2013, she became only the second Anglo Democrat to represent the Valley of the Sun in over three decades. The first was Harry Mitchell, who represented the then-5th District from 2007 to 2011.
Sinema is the first openly bisexual person and second openly LGBT woman elected to the United States Congress.

2014

Sinema ran for reelection in 2014, and was unopposed in the Democratic primary, which took place on August 26, 2014. She faced Republican Wendy Rogers in the general election.
According to Roll Call, Sinema billed herself as bipartisan. This move was seen as a response to her district's voting pattern. It was drawn as a "fair-fight" district, and President Barack Obama won the district by four points in 2012. In September 2014 she was endorsed for reelection by the United States Chamber of Commerce, becoming one of five Democrats to be endorsed by the Chamber in the 2014 congressional election cycle. She was reelected with approximately 55% of the vote, beating GOP nominee Wendy Rogers by 13 points.

2016

Unopposed in her primary, Sinema won the general election with 61.1% of the vote. Her opponent, Republican nominee Dave Giles, received 38.9%.

Tenure

Following her election to Congress, Sinema shifted toward the political center, joining the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and amassing a "reliably moderate-Democratic" voting record. Sinema worked for the adoption of the DREAM Act.

Committee assignments

Elections

On September 28, 2017, Sinema officially announced her candidacy for the Class I United States Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Jeff Flake, who declined to seek reelection the next month.
In March 2018 Sinema donated to charity $33,800 in campaign contributions she had received from Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor who came under scrutiny after a homeless escort died of a drug overdose at his California home in 2017. She had previously donated to charity $53,400 in campaign contributions from people with ties to Backpage, a website that was seized by the United States Department of Justice after it was accused of knowingly accepting ads for sex with underage girls.
Federal Election Commission filings released in April 2018 showed Sinema had raised over $8.2 million, more than the three leading Republican primary contenders combined.
During the 2018 campaign Sinema refused to debate her competitor in the Democratic primary, Deedra Abboud, an attorney and community activist. Sinema won the August Democratic primary for the Senate seat. Her Republican opponent in the general election was fellow Arizona U.S. Representative and eventual Senate colleague Martha McSally. Sinema received the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign.
While Abboud said she would vote against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Sinema "said she wanted to delve deeper into Kavanaugh's writings and interview him personally before deciding". She said she was "running on the issues people care about most, including offering quality, affordable health care and promoting economic opportunity". In summer 2018 Sinema said she would vote against Chuck Schumer for Minority Leader if elected to the U.S. Senate. "The Democratic leadership has failed Democrats across the country," she said. "I am unafraid to say what I believe about what I think our party needs to do and I think our party needs to grow and change."
Journalist Jonathan Martin wrote in The New York Times in September 2018 that Sinema was running "one of the most moderate-sounding and cautious Senate campaigns this year, keeping the media at arms-length and avoiding controversial issues", and said her campaign was generally reluctant to bring up President Donald Trump. According to Martin, both Republicans and Democrats said that Sinema had "few major legislative accomplishments to her record" and was running "on a political image that she has shaped and reshaped over the years. And nothing is more central to it now than her childhood homelessness."
On November 12, many news sources called the U.S. Senate race for Sinema, and the Republican nominee, Martha McSally, conceded. Sinema was sworn in with the 116th United States Congress on January 3, 2019.
Sinema is the first woman to represent Arizona in the United States Senate. She is also the first Democrat elected to represent Arizona in the chamber since Dennis DeConcini, who held her current seat from 1977 to 1995.

Tenure

Sinema was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Senate on January 3, 2019. During the oath of office ceremony, led by vice president Mike Pence, she decided to be sworn in not on the traditional Bible, but on copies of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Arizona. She is the senior U.S. senator from Arizona; the junior U.S. senator for Arizona is Sinema's 2018 general election opponent, Martha McSally, who was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated upon the resignation of Senator Jon Kyl.
On February 5, 2019, Sinema voted for a bill that would make improvements to certain defense and security assistance provisions, authorize the appropriation of funds to Israel, and reauthorize the United States-Jordan Defense Cooperation Act of 2015. On February 12, 2019, she voted along with the whole Senate for Natural Resources Management Act which provides for the management of the natural resources of the United States. On February 14, 2019, she voted to confirm William Barr as Attorney General.
On March 13, 2019, Sinema voted to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress. On March 14 she voted against President Trump's National Emergency declaration on border security. On March 26, along with two Democrats and an independent from Maine, she voted against the Green New Deal. On April 11, she voted to confirm David Bernhardt as Secretary of the Interior.
In February 2020, Sinema voted with all other Democratic Senators to convict President Trump in his impeachment trial.

Committee assignments{{Cite web|title=Schumer Announces Senate Democratic Committee Memberships For The 116th Congress Senate Democratic Leadership|url=https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-announces-senate-democratic-committee-memberships-for-the-116th-congress|website=www.democrats.senate.gov|language=en|access-date=2020-05-01}}

Sinema has been described as a centrist or moderate Democrat. According to National Journal's 2013 Vote Ratings, her votes place her near the center of their liberal-conservative scale. The National Journal gave her a composite ideology score of 57% liberal and 43% conservative. According to the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy, Sinema was the sixth most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the first session of the 115th United States Congress. She has cited U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, as a role model. She was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives during her tenure.
In 2015 and 2016, Sinema did not vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House. In 2015, she voted with the majority of her party 73% of the time. The conservative group Americans for Prosperity gives Sinema a lifetime 27% rating and the conservative Goldwater Institute gave her a 35% in 2010 when she was a state legislator; the progressive Americans for Democratic Action gave her a 60% liberal quotient. In 2017 she voted in line with President Donald Trump's position approximately half the time. According to FiveThirtyEight, as of April 2020, Sinema voted in line with Trump's position on legislation about 53% of the time.
In the House of Representatives, Sinema was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Abortion

Sinema supports abortion rights. Asked about Roe v. Wade, Sinema indicated that the ruling should not be overturned and that she supports a woman's right to choose. She has been endorsed by EMILY's List. She has a lifetime 100% rating from Planned Parenthood, which is pro-choice, and a 20% rating from the pro-life organization Campaign for Working Families as of 2018.

Economics

Sinema has voted for federal stimulus spending. She has said: "Raising taxes is more economically sound than cutting vital social services."
In 2015 Sinema was one of just seven House Democrats to vote in favor of a Republican-backed bill to repeal the estate tax, which affects about 0.2% of deaths in the U.S. each year. That same year she voted to change the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's leadership from a single director to a bipartisan commission.
In 2016, with Republican congressman John Katko of New York, Sinema cosponsored the Working Parents Flexibility Act. This legislation would establish a tax-free "parental savings account" in which employers and parents could invest savings tax-free, with unused funds eligible to be "rolled into qualifying retirement, college savings or ABLE accounts for people with disabilities without tax penalties". In September 2018 she voted "to make individual tax cuts passed by the GOP permanent". She was one of three Democrats to break with her party and vote for the tax cuts being made permanent.
On July 30, 2019, Sinema and Senator Bill Cassidy released a proposal under which new parents would be authorized to advance their child tax credit benefits in order to receive a $5,000 cash benefit upon either birth or adoption of a child. The parents' child tax credit would then be reduced by $500 for each year of the following decade. The senators described their proposal as the first bipartisan paid parental leave plan.

Environment

In 2019 Sinema was one of three Democrats who joined all Republicans and voted against the Green New Deal, a stimulus program that aims to address climate change and, at the same time, economic inequality, while most other Democrats voted "present." In April 2019, Sinema was one of three Democrats who voted with Republicans to confirm David Bernhardt, a former oil executive, as Secretary of the Interior Department.

Education

In February 2019, Sinema was one of 20 senators to sponsor the Employer Participation in Repayment Act, enabling employers to contribute up to $5,250 to their employees' student loans.

LGBT rights

According to a profile in The Advocate, "Sinema has her sights set on advancing LGBT rights." She has a history of policy advocacy regarding LGBT rights and issues. In 2006 Sinema was among the leading opponents of a proposed amendment to the Arizona state constitution which would have banned same-sex marriages and civil unions. The proposal failed in Arizona, the first time that a state rejected a ban on same-sex marriage, but, a second proposed amendment banning only same-sex marriage was passed in 2008 with Sinema opposing that amendment as well. She supports same-sex marriage, domestic partnership recognition, and adding gender identity to anti-discrimination laws.

Foreign policy

Sinema supports the use of military force to stop genocide, such as in Sudan, Somalia and Rwanda. She wrote a doctoral dissertation on the 1994 Rwandan genocide that Lexington Books published in 2015.
Sinema was opposed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and helped organize anti-war protests while a law student at Arizona State University. Sinema was involved in organizing a Phoenix-area group called the Arizona Alliance for Peaceful Justice. According to Josh Lederman of The Hill, "The group's mission statement at the time called military action 'an inappropriate response to terrorism' and advocated for using the legal system not violence to bring Osama bin Laden and others to justice."
As an antiwar activist in the years after 9/11, Sinema "led a group that distributed flyers depicting an American soldier as a skeleton inflicting 'U.S. terror' in Iraq and the Middle East." The flyers "promoted a February 2003 rally organized by Local to Global Justice, an anti-war group Sinema co-founded". Sinema was described in news reports as an organizer and sponsor of the rally and was listed as the point of contact for the event. One flyer referred to "Bush and his fascist, imperialist war", saying, "Government is slavery", and describing laws as "cobwebs for the rich and chains of steel for the poor". CNN said that such positions were "a contrast from the more moderate profile she has developed since her 2012 election to Congress".
In 2005 and 2006 she co-hosted an Air America radio show with 9/11 truther Jeff Farias. In 2006, Sinema said she opposed "war in all its forms", and wrote: "As one of the core organizers against the war from day one, I have always and will always continue to oppose war in all its forms."
After joining Congress in 2012, she said her views on military force had "evolved", and that "you should never take military intervention off the table. When you do so, you give an out to a rogue nation or rogue actors." Lederman reported that "she said she favors aggressive diplomacy, crippling sanctions to combat proliferation, and swift, multilateral intervention as a last resort". Since joining Congress, she has voted against the Iran Nuclear Deal and supported Trump's missile attack on Syria.

Guns

Sinema favors gun control measures such as requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows, and requiring a license for gun possession. In 2016 the National Rifle Association, which opposes gun regulations, gave Sinema a 29% rating. The Gun Owners of America have given her a "D" rating. In 2018 the NRA gave Sinema a 33% score and GOA gave her a 17% rating.

Health care

Sinema voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act, but has called for reforms to the law. In a 2012 congressional campaign debate, she said the health care law wasn't perfect, and that in Congress she would work to amend it to make it work effectively. Sinema voted to delay the imposition of fines on those who did not purchase insurance in 2014. She also voted to repeal the Medical Device Tax and for the Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013.
Speaking about healthcare policy, Sinema said, "I used to say that I wanted universal health-care coverage in Arizona, which went over like a ton of bricks. Turns out, Arizonans hear the word 'universal' and think 'socialism'—or 'pinko commie'. But when I say that I want all Arizonans to have access to affordable, quality health care, Arizonans agree wholeheartedly. Same basic idea, different language."

Immigration

Sinema co-sponsored the Southwest Border Security Threat Assessment Act, a bill that calls for border threat analysis of terrorism, smuggling, and human trafficking every five years.
Sinema was one of 24 House Democrats to vote in favor of Kate's Law, a bill that would expand maximum sentences for foreigners who attempt to reenter the country, legally or illegally, after having been deported, denied entry or removed, and for foreign felons who attempt to reenter the country.
Sinema voted for the SAFE Act, which expanded the refugee screening process to require signatures from the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of National Intelligence for each refugee entering the country.
Sinema opposed Arizona SB 1070. She has argued that mass deportation of undocumented immigrants is not an option and supported the DREAM Act. Her 2012 campaign website stated that "we need to create a tough but fair path to citizenship for undocumented workers that requires them to get right with the law by paying back taxes, paying a fine and learning English as a condition of gaining citizenship." In July 2018 she broke with her party by voting with Republicans against abolishing ICE.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a PAC that seeks to limit both legal and illegal immigration, gave Sinema a 33% rating in 2018, and UnidosUS, which supports a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, gave Sinema a score of 88% in 2014.

Privacy

In June 2013 Sinema became one of 29 original cosponsors of the bipartisan LIBERT-E Act, along with Representative Justin Amash. The legislation would limit the National Security Agency to only collecting electronic information from subjects of an investigation.
In July 2013 Sinema joined a bipartisan majority and voted against an amendment to a defense appropriations bill to prohibit the NSA from monitoring and recording details of U.S. citizens' telecommunications without a warrant.

Telecommunications

In 2016 Sinema was one of five House Democrats to vote for a Republican-backed bill barring the Federal Communications Commission from regulating broadband rates. Her vote broke from her party; other Democrats were strongly opposed to the measure, and President Obama said he would veto it if it passed.
In 2019 Sinema was the sole Senate Democrat not to co-sponsor the Save the Internet Act, which would restore Obama-era regulations preventing ISPs from throttling consumers' website traffic. She worked with Senate Republican Roger Wicker to develop their own net neutrality bill. Sinema has received $134,046 in donations from the Telecom Industry.

Personal life

Sinema married, and later divorced, her BYU classmate Blake Dain.
Sinema has been reported to be the only non-theist member of Congress, although she herself has rejected such labels.
She has credited the government, her church, her teachers, and her family for helping her climb out of poverty.
On November 17, 2013, Sinema completed an Ironman Triathlon in a little more than 15 hours. Sinema was the second active member of Congress—behind Senator Jeff Merkley—to finish a long distance triathlon, and the first to complete an Ironman-branded race. On December 25, 2013, Sinema summited Mount Kilimanjaro.
In January 2018, a New York man was arrested and charged with stalking Sinema.

Electoral history

2012

Selected works

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