Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema Switches To Independent

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says she has switched her registration to independent.

But the first-term senator also says she doesn’t plan to caucus with Republicans and that will ensure Democrats retain their narrow voting majority in the Senate.

Sinema has frustrated Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to party priorities.

She writes in a newspaper column that she’s “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.”

Democrats were set to hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate come January after the victory Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia’s runoff election.