Kyrsten Sinema Wins Arizona Senate Seat

Depending on the still to be determined Senate races in Mississippi and Florida, the Republicans now hold a 51-47 lead in the Senate. 

Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema defeated Republican airforce pilot Martha McSally, marking the first triumph for the Democrat party in the traditionally red state since 1976, in an electoral battle that has been too close to call for over a week since the closing of the polls for the U.S. midterms election.

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Some of the issues that may have helped the Democratic candidate win her seat - in what has been a long-held Republica bastion, are popular discontent with budget cuts, and rejection to Trump’s immigration policy amongst an electorate characterized for their more moderate views, according to the New York Times.

Sinema was also very active in recruiting Latinos  — who account for nearly one-third of Arizona’s population — to vote for her, another aspect which may have propelled her victory, according to the same source.

The results sets the overall Senate numbers to 47 for the Reps and 51 for the Dems. Two seats remain undecided in Florida and Mississippi.

Additionally, Sinema’s triumph also means that Democrats will now hold six seats in Arizona’s Congressional delegation, to the Republican’s five, thus reverting a tendency in place since the 1960s.

The elected senator has gradually become more centrist, having used to being aligned with the Green Party. This changed in 2012 after she won a seat in the House of Representatives.

Not only are Sinema’s views and positions in policy very unique in Congress, but her personal background is as well. She is a lawyer that comes from a working-class family, is openly bisexual, and is outspoken about having being bullied as a child.