AZ09, AZ07: The Suspense is Terrible. I Hope it Lasts.

Posted by Bob Lord

The articles and blog posts are flying on the speculation whether Kyrsten Sinema will jump from AZ09 to AZ07. And her apologists are out in full force in the social media as well.

Here’s BMAZ over at emptywheel, in The Naked and Unbound Ambition of Kyrsten Sinema:

No, today’s issue is the once and forever self proclaimed liberal Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema. The transformation of Sinema, who aggressively sold herself as progressive liberal when seeking election, to a conservative Blue Dog toadie of the Minority centrist Dem leadership has been nothing short of astounding, especially for those of us who reside in her district and voted for her in 2012. She completely betrayed her base constituents in Arizona District 9. That is mostly a story for another day though, today’s story is not about discrete policy issues, but wholesale admission of the deceptive nature of Kyrsten Sinema’s incursion into AZ-9 to start with.

The baseline is this: Thursday, longtime Arizona Democratic Congressman Ed Pastor of AZ-7 announced his decision to retire and not seek reelection in 2014. Local politicians, from seemingly forever Maricopa Board of Supervisor’s member Mary Rose Wilcox to new and fairly refreshing voices like state legislature member Ruben Gallego, were literally stepping over one another to announce they would be running for Pastor’s seat. They are almost all minorities vying to represent a solidly minority district. And this is no small thing, as most all of them have to give up their current position to do so under Arizona’s “resign to run” law.

I was asked early on Thursday, not long after Pastor’s announcement, by a friend who supports liberal Dems nationwide, about Kyrsten Sinema jumping in. I thought it was a joke question and said so. Because it was crazy talk. The joke, however, was squarely on me and her other constituents in AZ-09. Yeah, Kysten Sinema, who pledged herself to AZ-09, started lusting after AZ-07 the second it was announced available.

And David Wiegel of Slate reports that the PCCC is weighing in as well:

“There are an entire nation of Democrats and progressive activists working hard to expand the map and take back the House in 2014,” wrote Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Commieee, in an e-mail. “Kyrsten Sinema should feel proud about winning her current seat for Democrats. But carpetbagging and turning that seat over to Republicans would contract the map and be the ultimate act of selfishness. She would invite the scorn of every one of her House Democratic colleagues — in addition to Democratic leaders and activists across Arizona and the nation.”

As Gene Wilder famously opined in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: “The suspense is terrible. I hope it lasts.”