Democratic Party financiers are plotting to fund a 2024 primary challenge against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as she fights key pieces of their party’s agenda.
Some of the donors who now aim to finance a campaign against the moderate Democrat from Arizona contributed to her first Senate campaign in 2018, according to people familiar with the matter. Certain financiers who want to unseat Sinema signed a recent letter to her in which they suggested her campaign should return their donations if the senator imperils voting rights legislation.
Those who declined to be named in this story did so in order to speak freely.
Sinema, who will not face reelection until 2024, has helped to sink some of her party’s priorities. She drew ire from Democrats last week when she voted against changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation.
She also has opposed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and increasing the corporate tax rate.
Sinema’s record has led at least one congressional colleague from her state to consider trying to unseat her. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has said he recently met with party donors, including those who once supported Sinema. In many cases, they assured him they would back him in a possible primary challenge against the Arizona senator.
Gallego, who opted not to run in 2020 against now-Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said he would not make a decision about whether to run against Sinema until after the crucial 2022 midterm elections.
Gallego, who is considered a progressive, called out Sinema by name earlier this month on the House floor as he backed elections legislation. The Iraq War veteran has previously said he supports liberal priorities such as “Medicare for All.”
Representatives for Gallego and Sinema did not return requests for comment.
A recent poll by OH Predictive Insights found that “only 26% of Arizona Democrats said that they would prefer Sinema, while another 72% chose a Democrat other” than her in a hypothetical 2024 primary. It surveyed more than 700 registered voters in Arizona.
Despite the pushback she has received from her own party, Sinema has enjoyed fundraising success throughout the 2022 election cycle. She has raised more than $2 million in part through contributions from corporate PACs tied to AT&T, Amazon, Horizon Therapeutics and Airbus Group.
While Sinema’s opposition has made her an influential vote in a Senate split 50-50 by party, donors who are passionate about Democratic priorities are discussing a move to fund efforts that could force her out of Congress. Her resistance to key party policies has led to the creation of at least three political action committees that aim to unseat her.
“I have given up really trying to understand Sinema’s motivations for the way she votes. And at a certain point I don’t care. I just know if there is an alternative I will back them. And I know other people feel that way,” a past Sinema donor who no longer supports her explained to CNBC.
Though Sinema has…
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