Kyrsten Sinema announces she is retiring from the Senate

There's some breaking news. Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says that she is not running for reelection. She says she's going to be leaving the Senate at the end of the year. Let's get straight now to CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Money. Get us up to speed here. Yeah, this is very significant, of course. Kyrsten Sinema has been a key player in the Senate for several years now, being the center of a number of negotiations here in the Senate. Someon

e who has actually gotten a lot of pushback, anger from the left flank of her party ultimately drove her from the Democratic Party, became an independent senator caucusing with the Democrats but there's been a key question about the Senate race this year of the Senate map about what Kirsten Cinema would do in this critical swing seat of Arizona. She just announced she is going to step aside, will not run for reelection in November, which would change the dynamics in that very critical Senate rac

e in Arizona. She just put out a lengthy statement explaining her decision to step aside. She talked about the need to work together, how the need for civility and for compromise. She said that she's she laments the facts in her words. Compromise is a dirty road. She said we have arrived at a crossroad and we chose we choose anger and division. And ultimately, she says that it's time for her to step aside. This is this will change how this Senate race could eventually turn out if she were to run

. It would be uncertain if whether she would pull support from the Democratic side or the Republican side. There's a Republican candidate who is running in that race. Cory Lake, a former gubernatorial candidate. There's a Democratic candidate, also Ruben Gallego. He's a Democratic candidate as well. I just talked to Steve Daines, who's the chairman of the Senate GOP Campaign Committee. He told me that he believes that cinema's decision to step aside will ultimately boost Kerry Lake's chance in t

his pivotal race. But there's not only loose have an impact on the map here, Brianna, but also on the Senate as well. Several of these dealmaker types, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitt Romney all saying that they will not run for reelection. That will ultimately change the makeup of the Senate, whether they can cut deals and have implications, too, for the next president. Brianna. Yeah, huge, huge development here with Kirsten Cinema saying she'll be leaving the Senate at the end of this year.

Manu Raju live for us on the Hill, thank you. Joining us now from Washington, she is coauthor of The Washington Post Early to De Leon Caldwell. Leon, thank you very much for joining us. Let me ask you first, if I may, on the news just coming in to CNN to us from a on Sénateur, Kristin Cinema announcing she's retiring. She said, because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done. I will leave the Senate at the end of this year. How do you interpret those words

? Why? Why now? So, Senator, cinema has been central to most bipartisan legislation that's been passed or that even failed in Congress over the past several years. But the reason she's leaving Congress now is because she doesn't have a path to reelection. She became an independent, which means that she does not have the support of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. She has a challenger in Democratic, a Democratic congressman is challenging her. And he did that after Democrats became f

urious with Kirsten Cinema for failing to get behind Democrats to change Senate rules. It sounds very wonky, but this is something that Democrats really wanted, and it led to a challenge from her left. And so now that there's a challenge from her left, there's a challenge from the Republican Party on her right. And really, there is no path for Kirsten Cinema to create a coalition of voters in Arizona to win reelection in 20, 24. Appreciate you breaking it all down for us. Of course, as we just h

ad this breaking news come in in the last few moments. I wonder if I can turn, though, to Super Tuesday that we've been covering at the top of the show. Because, of course, we have and our viewers, international viewers will know there's a large sample, of course, of the US voting today, and I think we could get some answers hopefully today. I wonder what state you will be looking at closely and why. What should we looking out for here? So there's 15 states and one territory, American Samoa, who

are have voters heading to the polls today. And like you said in your lead this, today's voters will deliver one third of the necessary delegates for the nominee to clinch the nomination. Donald Trump has already secured most of the delegates and his path looks very strong today. If Nikki Haley, she always says that she wants to improve on previous performances, but it's becoming much more difficult for her. The states are more numerous. They're closer together and it's hard to campaign And I'm

going to be looking at states of Virginia and Vermont to states that she could perhaps do well there. But the reality is, is that Nikki Haley has had a phenomenal last few months fundraising. $28 million or more she has raised yet she's hardly spending any money right now in this Super Tuesday primary states, which is a big sign that perhaps her campaign will end relatively soon, especially if she doesn't win anything today or exceed expectations. Right. And to exceed expectations, what is the

mark then? She's I know. So she always says she has to get continuously do better. Well, her high mark was 43% of the vote in New Hampshire, which is quite strong for someone running against essentially an incumbent. Donald Trump is present. He was president. He has a long record. So her getting more than 43% or even winning a state today is would exceed expectations and it's going to be very difficult for her to do that. And let me turn very quickly to the Democratic Party because obviously las

t week in Michigan we saw a very we had a very clear message, of course, for President Biden over as uncommitted voters. How concerned do you think the Democratic Party should be Are you keeping a close eye on this? Is it something that you think worries them at this stage? It does worry them. The Biden campaign does admit that they're worried, but it does worry Democrats. I'm going to be watching the state of Minnesota, which also could have another high uncommitted vote today. But beyond that,

it is this general apathy, a feeling of apathy from Democratic voters that should be most concerning to President Biden and his reelection. You not only have discontent among Democrats about his handling of the war in Gaza, but you have frustration that he has not been doing enough for the Democratic base voters. And then you have Independ it voters who are concerned about his age. And so whether that is a valid concern or not, it is leading to challenges in Biden's coalition Yes, at the end of

the day, we'll have not only we'll see their strengths potentially, but also their vulnerabilities. We'll have a better sense of that. Leon, appreciate it. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to me. Thank you.