Kyrsten Sinema's Former 'Friend' Rips Her Split From Democrats: 'Hypocrite'

A one-time colleague and friend of Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema publicly derided her decision to leave the Democratic Party on Friday morning, describing the former social worker and progressive firebrand as a "hypocrite" willing to "abandon values and friendships to climb to the top."

Sinema announced Friday she would become an independent over a myriad of disagreements with the platforms of both major parties, and to inspire people's belief that politics can transcend political tribalism.

"This Senate seat doesn't belong to Democratic or Republican bosses in Washington. It doesn't belong to one party or the other, and it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Arizona, which is far too special a place to be defined by extreme partisans and ideologues," Sinema wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic Friday morning."

Some didn't see it that way.

Others called the unpopular Senator's decision to leave the party just days after its consequential victory in the Georgia runoff election between Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker a matter of self-preservation ahead of a contentious 2024 election, allowing her to dodge the prospect of a primary challenge by threatening to divide the candidate field and allow a Republican to win.

"Ditching the Democratic Party has nothing to do with ugly partisan games but everything to do with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's opportunism," the Arizona Republic's Elvia Díaz wrote after the announcement.

At least one former colleague agrees.

In a Twitter thread Friday morning, David Schapira—a former candidate for Congress and one-time minority leader of the Arizona State Senate—described his time working closely with Sinema in the statehouse, and her eventual decision to run against him in an open race for the newly-created 9^th Congressional District in 2012.

Colleagues of five years at that point, the two "were friends," Schapira said, and both committed to not "go negative" against each other in the campaign.

"We held a press conference and released a joint statement saying so," Schapira wrote Friday. "She had nothing to lose because she was the front-runner in early polling with her firebrand reputation in progressive circles. Everyone figured I'd have to bring her down with some dirt to pull ahead. But I kept my promise and ran a clean campaign."

But Sinema, he said, did not.

After polling showed the pair in a dead heat that May, Sinema's campaign allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on mailers to Democratic primary voters falsely claiming he supported John McCain for president over Barack Obama—even though Schapira initially encouraged Sinema to endorse him—and that he supported private-school vouchers, even though he had openly opposed them during his time in the Arizona statehouse.

Running in a three-way primary, Sinema's campaign ultimately won her the party's nomination by nearly 11 points, setting her up for a narrow victory in the general election that November. But the damage, Schapira said, had already been done.

"Kyrsten broke a promise to me and AZ voters to run a clean campaign," he wrote. "She lied about a friend to win an election. She later apologized and told me she had to do it or she would have lost, as if that made it okay."

While he praised Sinema's values and her intelligence, he said the Democratic Senator's decision to leave the party—and potentially sabotaging opportunities for progressives to win the seat—was nothing more than a reflection of who she was then: a person willing to win at all costs.

"Kyrsten is the worst kind of hypocrite," wrote Schapira. "Believe it or not, her core beliefs align with the progressive values of @TheDemocrats, BUT there is nothing she won't say or do to increase her notoriety or importance. She will abandon values and friendships to climb to the top."

"As she leaves the political party and the voters who gave her political life, people will say she is crazy or stupid, but those people don't know her," he added. "She is level-headed and brilliant, but she will stop at nothing and step on anyone to get what she wants."

There were some Friday who were in her corner. Most, notably, were Republicans.

"Good for@SenatorSinema!" billionaire Elon Musk tweeted Friday. "I hope more of our elected leaders act independently, aka in the interests of the people."

Newsweek has reached out to Sinema's campaign for comment.