Senate Filibuster Critics See New Hope After Sinema, Manchin Leave Office

WASHINGTON ― Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) ― two of the most vocal defenders of the filibuster in the Senate ― won’t be around next year. Mitch McConnell, another staunch supporter of the filibuster, is leaving GOP leadership at the end of the year, and he may not be around the Capitol much longer either.

The rapidly changing makeup of the Senate, where much of the old guard is being replaced with newcomers who don’t see much sense in some of the chamber’s longstanding traditions, is giving hope to advocates of eliminating the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation.

“This institution would be better off if the filibuster wasn’t used in the way it is today.… It certainly feels like the momentum is heading towards a reform of the filibuster,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been involved in both successful and not-so-successful bipartisan negotiations gun control and immigration reform, told HuffPost on Wednesday.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a vocal critic of the filibuster, said it had been used recently by Republicans to prevent passage of legislation to protect abortion rights and voting rights.

“The filibuster is a way to empower the minority,” Warren said. “People are sick of hearing that we’d like to make changes that are popular all across this country — changes in access to abortion, to gun safety, to support for access to abortion — but that somehow, the minority blocked us.”

She added: “The filibuster needs to go.”

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Democrats tried to change Senate rules to exempt legislation expanding access to voting and bolstering the 1965 Voting Rights Act from the filibuster.

But Sinema and Manchin, then two of the most conservative Democrats in the chamber, joined