Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaves Democratic Party to become independent

Key Facts

Sinema said in a tweet Friday that she was declaring her "independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent."
Senate runoff election gave the Democrats one more vote in the chamber and boosted the party's hopes that a 51-49 majority in the Senate would give Sinema and Manchin less control on crucial bills.
She has made a career in the chamber by trying to work with Republicans as frequently as she did her former party, and told Politico in an interview Friday that switching party affiliations was a logical next step for her.
Groups like the Primary Sinema PAC emerged late last year after her reluctance to filibuster reform prevented Democrats from moving forward with an exception for voting rights legislation, leading to the central committee of the Arizona Democratic Party to issue a no-confidence vote in its senator.