74 Facts About Sinema

Kyrsten Lea Sinema is an American politician and social worker serving as the senior United States senator from Arizona since January 2019.

Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party and rose to prominence for her progressive advocacy, supporting causes such as LGBT rights and opposing the war on terror.

Sinema's left the Green Party to join the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004 and was elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2012.

Sinema won the 2018 Senate election to replace the retiring Jeff Flake, defeating Republican nominee Martha McSally.

Sinema's is the first openly bisexual and the second openly LGBT woman to be elected to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, in 2012 and 2018, respectively.

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Sinema's was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona.

Sinema has said that for two years they had no toilet or electricity while living there.

Sinema was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sinema's graduated as valedictorian from Walton High School in DeFuniak Springs at age 16 and earned her B A from Brigham Young University in 1995 at age 18.

In 2003, Sinema became an adjunct professor teaching master's-level policy and grant-writing classes at Arizona State University School of Social Work and an adjunct business law professor at Arizona Summit Law School, formerly known as Phoenix School of Law.

Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party before joining the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004, and called herself a "Prada socialist".

Sinema's had organized 15 antiwar rallies by the time the Iraq War began.

In 2002, Sinema first ran for the Arizona House of Representatives as an independent affiliated with the Arizona Green Party.

Sinema's finished in last place in a five-candidate field, receiving 8 percent of the vote.

Sinema was reelected three times with over 30 percent of the vote.

In 2008, Sinema completed the Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government program for senior executives in state and local government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow.

In 2009 and 2010, Sinema was an assistant Minority Leader for the Democratic Caucus of the Arizona House of Representatives.

In 2010, Sinema was elected to the Arizona Senate, defeating Republican Bob Thomas, 63 to 37 percent.

In 2006, Sinema told a radio host that she was "the most liberal member of the Arizona State Legislature".

Sinema campaigned against Proposition 107, a referendum to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Arizona.

Sinema chaired a coalition called Protect Arizona's Freedom, which defeated Ward Connerly's goal to place an initiative on the state ballot that would eliminate racial-preference programs.

In June 2009, Sinema was one of 32 state legislators appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Health Reform Task Force, which helped shape the Affordable Care Act.

In 2010, Sinema sponsored a bill to give in-state tuition to veterans; it was held in committee and did not receive a vote.

Sinema refused to support the successful effort to recall Republican Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, saying she "love[d] him" and thought he should "run for Congress".

In June 2011, Sinema said she was considering running for the U S House of Representatives in 2012.

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Sinema's lived in the same Phoenix neighborhood as incumbent Democratic congressman Ed Pastor, but was adamant that she would not challenge another Democrat in a primary.

Parker ran campaign ads that accused Sinema of being an "anti-American hippie" who practiced "Pagan rituals".

Sinema held a narrow lead over Parker, while provisional and absentee ballots were still being counted.

Sinema is the first openly bisexual person and second openly LGBT woman elected to the United States Congress.

Sinema's was reelected with approximately 55 percent of the vote, beating Rogers by 13 points.

Unopposed in her primary, Sinema won the general election with 61 percent of the vote.

Sinema worked for the adoption of the DREAM Act, even hiring DREAM Act advocate Erika Andiola as a district outreach staffer.

In 2015, Sinema was one of four Democrats to vote to give the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau an advisory role to banks, businesses, and credit unions.

In 2017, Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive nonprofit, found Sinema had voted for 12 of the 19 bills it felt "served the interests or wishes of Wall Street and the financial industry at the expense of the public interest" that year.

Sinema's said she was "running on the issues people care about most, including offering quality, affordable health care and promoting economic opportunity".

Journalist Jonathan Martin wrote in The New York Times in September 2018 that Sinema was running "one of the most moderate-sounding and cautious Senate campaigns this year, keeping the media at arms-length and avoiding controversial issues", and said her campaign was generally reluctant to bring up President Donald Trump.

Sinema is the first woman to represent Arizona in the United States Senate.

Sinema's is the first Democrat elected to represent Arizona in the chamber since Dennis DeConcini, who held her current seat from 1977 to 1995.

Sinema's is the senior U S senator from Arizona; the junior U S senator for Arizona is Democrat Mark Kelly.

Sinema voted to convict Donald Trump in both his first and second impeachment trials.

Murray and Sinema both cited a "personal family matter" for their absence.

In October 2021, five of the veterans Sinema had selected for her advisory council as liaisons to the Arizona service member community resigned.

Sinema has been described as a moderate to conservative Democrat, being generally socially liberal but fiscally moderate-to-conservative.

Sinema's has cited U S Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, as a role model.

Sinema's was one of the most conservative House Democrats during her tenure.

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In 2015 and 2016, Sinema did not vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House.

Sinema's was endorsed by EMILY's List, an abortion-rights-focused political action committee, until 2022, when she voted with Republicans against changing the filibuster to allow passage of the Freedom to Vote and John R Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Sinema has served as an Advisory Board Member of the Arizona Death Penalty Forum.

Sinema's was a presenter at their 2010 Spring Conference, which was co-sponsored by Amnesty International and the ACLU of Arizona.

In 2015, Sinema was one of just seven House Democrats to vote in favor of a Republican-backed bill to repeal the estate tax, which affects about 0.

Sinema's was one of three Democrats to break with her party and vote for the tax cuts being made permanent.

Sinema's did so by flashing a thumbs-down, and some commentators compared her demeanor to that of former Arizona senator John McCain, who had voted with a dramatic thumbs-down gesture in 2017; others compared her to former French monarch Marie Antoinette, to whom the phrase "let them eat cake" is attributed.

In 2019, Sinema was one of four Democratic-caucusing senators to join all Republicans in voting against the Green New Deal, a stimulus program that aims to address climate change and economic inequality, while most other Democrats voted "present".

Sinema was opposed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and helped organize anti-war protests while a law student at Arizona State University.

Sinema was involved in organizing a Phoenix-area group called the Arizona Alliance for Peaceful Justice .

Sinema was described in news reports as an organizer and sponsor of the rally and was listed as the point of contact for the event.

Sinema voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act, but has called for reforms to the law.

Sinema voted to delay the imposition of fines on those who did not purchase insurance in 2014.

Sinema's voted to repeal the Medical Device Tax and for the Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013.

In 2021, Sinema opposed prescription drug pricing reform proposals in House and Senate versions of a Democrat-crafted spending bill.

Observers have noted that Sinema is one of the largest beneficiaries of pharmaceutical political action committee money in Congress, and has been described as a "Pharma Favorite".

In 2006, Sinema was among the leading opponents of a proposed amendment to the Arizona state constitution which would have banned same-sex marriages and civil unions.

Sinema was one of 24 House Democrats to vote in favor of Kate's Law, a bill that would expand maximum sentences for foreigners who attempt to reenter the country, legally or illegally, after having been deported, denied entry or removed, and for foreign felons who attempt to reenter the country.

Sinema voted for the SAFE Act, which expanded the refugee screening process to require signatures from the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of National Intelligence for each refugee entering the country.

Sinema's has argued that mass deportation of undocumented immigrants is not an option and supported the DREAM Act.

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In June 2013, Sinema became one of 29 original cosponsors of the bipartisan LIBERT-E Act, along with Representative Justin Amash.

In July 2013, Sinema joined a bipartisan majority and voted against an amendment to a defense appropriations bill to prohibit the NSA from monitoring and recording details of U S citizens' telecommunications without a warrant.

Sinema's implied that conservative Democrat Joe Lieberman was barely a Democrat, as his vote according to her could not be counted on for Democratic health policy, saying, "some might argue we never had 60, because one of those votes was Joseph Lieberman, but that's whatever—yeah, and Nelson too, but really Lieberman".

In 2016, Sinema was one of five House Democrats to vote for a Republican-backed bill barring the Federal Communications Commission from regulating broadband rates.

In 2019, Sinema was the sole Senate Democrat not to co-sponsor the Save the Internet Act, which would restore Obama-era regulations preventing ISPs from throttling consumers' website traffic.

Sinema's worked with Senate Republican Roger Wicker to develop their own net neutrality bill.

Sinema's has been reported to be the only non-theist member of Congress, although she has rejected such labels.

Sinema's was the second active member of Congress, after Senator Jeff Merkley, to finish a long-distance triathlon, and the first to complete an Ironman-branded race.

Sinema married, and later divorced, her BYU classmate Blake Dain.