On Tuesday, Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she will not seek re-election, thus avoiding a potential three-way battle for her highly contested seat.
Sinema, who initially secured her position as a Democrat in 2018 before switching her affiliation to Independent in late 2022, expressed her frustrations with the current state of partisan politics.
“The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic — attacking your opponents on cable news or social media. Compromise is a dirty word,” she lamented.
“We’ve arrived at that crossroad and we chose anger and division. I believe in my approach, but it’s not what Americans want right now.”
Watch:
A message for Arizonans from Senator Kyrsten Sinema pic.twitter.com/1XWFSWgGdh
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) March 5, 2024
With Sinema stepping aside, it sets the stage for a showdown between the Trump-endorsed firebrand Republican frontrunner Kari Lake and progressive Democrat frontrunner Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
Before Sinema’s announcement, Kari Lake was polling higher than both Gallego and Sinema in a three-way matchup, according to the latest Rasmussen poll.
In a one-on-one battle between Lake and Gallego, Lake maintains her lead with a 45-42 advantage.
Western Journal reports,
The poll, conducted by Rasmussen Reports and the Bull Moose Project, found that Lakewas ahead in both a two- and a three-person race, depending on whether Sinema sticks out her campaign.
With three people in the race, Lake holds a 4-point lead over Gallego, 37 percent to 33 percent, with Sinema taking 21 percent of the vote.
If Sinema were to abandon what’s likely a lost-cause candidacy, things look only slightly better for Gallego, with Lake taking 45 percent and Gallego 42 percent, according to the poll.
In a two-person race, 8 percent said they were undecided and 4 percent they wouldn’t vote. In a three-person race, 7 percent say they were undecided and another 2 percent wouldn’t vote.
The latest poll from @Rasmussen_Poll shows that any way you slice it, with Sinema or without, I am beating @RubenGallego.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 29, 2024
The people of Arizona despise @JoeBiden's agenda, & they're not going to send the radical (Ruben) who enabled it to the United States Senate.
I am on a… pic.twitter.com/Umq0pVQp7w
