Just days after the Democrats secured a 51-seat majority in the Senate, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema delivered a major blow to the Democratic Party by announcing that she will be changing her party affiliation to independent.

Sinema announced her decision on Friday morning, saying that she “never really fit into a box of any political party.”

The former Democrat has now taken the Senate to a 50-49 split, allowing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to hold onto his influence as a pivotal swing vote.

The Senator posted the news to Twitter, saying, “In a natural extension of my service since I was first elected to Congress, I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent.”

She continued, “Over the past four years, I’ve worked proudly with other Senators in both parties and forged consensus on successful laws helping everyday Arizonans build better lives for themselves and their families.”

“Becoming an Independent won’t change my work in the Senate; my service to Arizona remains the same.”

Sinema has always acted as a swing vote in the Senate, being less rigid in her devotion to a political party and rather more concerned with the actual issues. By not bending to the will of the Democratic Party, Sinema has faced her share of anger from the die-hard left-wingers.

Last year, Sinema faced significant abuse from her former party when she held out on the ‘Build Back Better’ bill. The Senator was at Arizona State University, where she is a professor in the Social Work department, when she was cornered by a group of Democrat activists who demanded she listen to what they had to say.

With no regard for her personal space whatsoever, the Arizona youth followed her into a bathroom where they insisted they had to “hold her accountable.”

Later that same month, a climate activist inappropriately followed Sinema through an airport, insisting that the Senator listen to her and claiming that Arizona is “getting hotter and hotter.” At one point, as the activist starts getting too close to Sinema, she has to tell her, “don’t touch me.”

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