Kyrsten Sinema announces she is retiring from the Senate

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, announced Tuesday she will leave the Senate at the end of her term this year, a move that will shake up the battle for control of the chamber in November and remove a key player who has been central to major negotiations in Congress.

Sinema has been an influential yet polarizing figure in the Senate and has frequently worked to broker compromise between Democrats and Republicans. In announcing her decision not to seek reelection, the Arizona senator said, “I believe in my approach, but it’s not what America wants right now.”

Sinema’s decision takes her out of the fight for her seat in an extremely competitive state. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and former Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake are among the most closely watched candidates in the Senate race.

The race in Arizona will be one of the most important in November for determining the majority in the Senate. The state voted for President Joe Biden by a slim margin of less than one percentage point in 2020.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsed Gallego in the race following Sinema’s announcement that she will retire. “We are fully behind his candidacy and look forward to winning this race with him in 2024 and defeating Kari Lake,” Schumer said of Gallego.

Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who chairs the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, argued to CNN that Sinema’s decision not to run for reelection will help Lake’s candidacy.

“I wasn’t surprised by that announcement. And the polling shows that it actually gives somewhat of an advantage to Kari Lake, in all the polling we’ve done,” Daines said. “So it gives us another great opportunity, another open seat on the Senate map.”

Sinema, a