Arizona Sen. Kirsten Sinema announced Friday that she has registered as an independent, leaving the Democratic Party just days after winning a runoff race in Georgia to win 51 Senate seats. .
“I join a growing number of Arizonans rejecting party politics by declaring my independence from the corrupt partisan system in Washington,” he said in a local media release from Arizona Central.
Sinema said in a separate Politico interview published Friday that he will not go to a caucus with the Republican Party. If so, Democrats could retain more control in the closely divided chamber.
Democrats held a 50-50 split in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris voting for a tie.
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff election in Georgia gave them the 51st seat.
Two other current senators — Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Maine’s Angus King — are registered independents but usually caucus with Democrats.
With post wires
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