Kyrsten Sinema Has Voted With Joe Biden More Often Than Bernie Sanders

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Congress' newest independent member, has voted with President Joe Biden more often than the most popular independent lawmaker, Senator Bernie Sanders.

According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis, Sinema has voted with Biden 93 percent of the time, which is more often than Sanders, who has voted in line with the president's agenda 91 percent of the time.

On Friday, Sinema sent shockwaves across Capitol Hill after she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, joining the Senate's two other independents, Sanders and Angus King—both of whom caucus with the Democrats, and taking away the 51-49 majority the Democratic Party had expected.

"Nothing will change about my values or my behavior," the Arizona senator told Politico after announcing her switch.

Sinema said she still plans to support Biden's appointees, as well as maintain her committee assignments.

Sinema, who is serving her first term in the Senate, has long been a pain for her former party. Her moderate voting record and unwillingness to change the filibuster rule have allowed her to wield outsized power in an evenly split Senate and forced Democratic leaders to negotiate for her support on the party's agenda.

However, within the Democratic Caucus, Sinema actually votes more in favor of Biden's legislative goals than five of her colleagues. In addition to Sanders, Sinema votes more in line with Biden than Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, Jon Tester and Joe Manchin.

Manchin, who has been viewed as the other major roadblock for the Democrats, votes with Biden the least at 88 percent of the time. Sinema's independent affiliation is likely to embolden Manchin, allowing him to retain the power of being a swing vote now that the Senate is nearly evenly divided.

King, the third independent senator, votes with Biden 98 percent of the time.

Since Biden has taken office, Sinema has disagreed with the president's position only four times—on the filibuster, on mask and COVID vaccine requirements and on terminating the national COVID emergency declaration.

Despite Friday's news, Democrats are still projected to have the votes to control Senate committees as Sinema is not caucusing with Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the Huffington Post that the Democrats "will maintain our new majority on committees, exercise our subpoena power, and be able to clear nominees without discharge votes."

Schumer's optimism has not been reflected by everyone in his party. Sinema's announcement was criticized by a number of Democrats, including Representative Raúl Grijalva, who also represents Arizona.

"With Senator Warnock's re-election, Kyrsten Sinema's ability to be the center of the political universe has ended within the Democratic Party," Grijalva said in a Friday statement. He added that "Democrats will move forward putting people over politics with or without her help."

Newsweek reached out to Sanders for comment.