The door opened by Sen. Sinema’s brave decision 

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to leave the Democratic Party in favor of becoming an independent marks a seminal moment in recent political history. It highlights how both parties have become untethered from what the majority of ordinary American people want Washington to do. The far right’s hold on the GOP and the far left’s hold on Democratic Party leaders have frequently rendered Washington incapable of addressing the nation’s problems in a commonsense way. And Sinema’s courageous decision to reject the rigid partisanship that prevails in our Capitol should serve as a wake-up call to those leading both parties. 

Pundit reaction to Sinema’s announcement has focused overwhelmingly on the immediate political implications and how her decision may bear on any primary she might have otherwise faced in 2024. But insiders should spend more time exploring the underlying circumstances which prompted Sinema to make the break: Neither party, as she has argued, is moored in the sensibilities that most voters would want Washington to embrace. And that’s most blatantly obvious when you consider Sinema’s decision against the backdrop of the recent midterm election. Americans clearly do not like either of the choices before them.  

Recall just how unexpected the results were last month. Most insiders expected Republicans to sweep both houses of Congress if only because, as the polls indicate, most Americans think the country is on the wrong track. But the fact that Democrats maintained control of the Senate and only lost a marginal number of seats in the House suggests that voters, dissatisfied as they may be with President Biden, do not necessarily think Republicans offer a much better alternative. In short, because neither party seems equipped with an agenda that reflects popular sentiment, there can be little question that voters are looking for independent problem solvers. And Sinema fits the mold.  

The good news is the politics of problem solving is well within reach. It prevailed at times in the last Congress, thanks in no small part to Sinema’s leadership. And it can again in the next Congress, perhaps even in a more robust way. The now-independent Arizonan was directly involved in nearly every major bipartisan deal in the last Congress—perhaps most important, to pass the infrastructure package. But her refusal to kowtow to far-left demands for more inflation-inducing public spending infuriated some of her fellow Democrats. And so now, without having to worry about her party’s far left, she can focus on delivering for Arizonans an agenda that does not steer the country wildly to the right, or drastically to the left. 

That, of course, is how Washington should work—and how it once worked when the Senate was in its halcyon days. Members, aware that it was going to take a supermajority to pass any major piece of legislation, would begin each legislative effort by gauging the interest of their peers across the political spectrum. Today, by contrast, members in both parties too frequently begin by asking what the fringe within their own coalition wants, modulating only so much as they can maintain support from ideologues on the far left or far right. And so it’s no wonder why, absent the sort of coalition Sinema helped to build on a whole range of fronts in the last Congress, both parties have resorted whenever they could to manipulative legislative maneuvering like reconciliation. 

Sinema’s courageous decision presents two challenges—one for her, and one for the rest of her colleagues. For her, the next two years will present a unique opportunity to show what the power of a single senator, untethered by either traditional party establishment, can do as a national leader. America has a whole range of challenges that will only be solved in a bipartisan way: inflation, border security and immigration, domestic manufacturing, climate, and much more. To get real solutions through, both parties will want and need Sinema’s help and leadership. 

Second, this marks an opportunity for those of us who believe in the power of bipartisanship to show our true stripes. Sinema is sure now to elicit challenges from the right and the left in the coming Senate campaign—and many will be pressured into supporting her opponents. But here we have a figure who has shown a willingness to risk her political future on the promise of substantive bipartisanship. Will those who believe in two-party solutions stand with her in her moment of need? They should, because if she succeeds, her success could open the door for a return to the bipartisan norms of the past. 

Nancy Jacobson is CEO and founder of No Labels.