Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says 'Romney' book misconstrues her 'I don't care' reelection comments

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says a new book about her friend and fellow Sen. Mitt Romney “misconstrued” comments by her saying she didn’t care if her view of the legislative filibuster costs her reelection.

In “Romney: A Reckoning,” author McKay Coppins notes that Sinema, I-Ariz., told Romney, R-Utah, she had other career options when he asked her whether she worried about her political future.

The long-awaited book, which was released Tuesday, revives a familiar flashpoint in Sinema’s Senate career.

It says Romney asked her if she worried about her reelection and she “shrugged matter-of-factly.”

“I don’t care. I can go on any board I want to. I can be a college president. I can do anything,” she told Romney, according to the book, which is drawn from interviews with Romney, Sinema and his records.

“I saved the Senate filibuster by myself. I saved the Senate by myself. That’s good enough for me.”

Hannah Hurley, a Sinema spokesperson, said Sinema was relating that her decisions are based on what Sinema views as appropriate policy, not political fallout.

Hurley said the comments are not at odds with Sinema’s longstanding views.

“Private conversations are easily misconstrued and mistaken during the game of telephone,” Hurley said.

“When asked about whether she was concerned that her stance on the filibuster could endanger her reelection chances, Kyrsten stated what she as stated for years now; she is not worried about winning the next election, and instead she is laser focused on her ability and the Senate’s ability to deliver lasting results for our country.”

The Sinema exchange comes after a passage referring to her refusal to set aside the legislative filibuster in January 2022. At the time, she was still a Democrat and her then-party wanted to pass legislation to protect voting rights ahead of the 2022 midterm elections on a party-line vote.

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Sinema has not officially said whether she will seek a second six-year term next year. Her campaign spending throughout the year suggests she is running in a race already involving Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Republicans Kari Lake and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb.

The controversy over proposed voting rights legislation and the filibuster marked a turning point in Sinema’s relations with many Democratic voters and left-leaning donors.

It was in response to state-level Republicans across the country who had enacted laws that made voting more restrictive.

Republicans used the Senate’s filibuster rule to block the Democrats’ bill from coming to a vote. In the process, it forced some Democrats who largely had avoided the long-simmering issue to make their views clear, including Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Kelly agreed to support Democratic-led changes, including a “talking filibuster” rule that would have eliminated what amounted to procedural cancellation of a bill.

“If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote,” Kelly said in a statement at the time. “Protecting the vote-by-mail system used by a majority of Arizonans and getting dark money out of our elections is too important to let fall victim to Washington dysfunction.”

Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., both said they supported the voting rights bill, but both refused to bend on changing the filibuster. They voted with Republicans to preserve the legislative filibuster rule, and GOP senators used it to kill the voting rights measure.

In a statement at the time, Sinema said that outcome “must not be the end of our work to protect our democracy,” and said the solution needed to be bipartisan and not just passed by Congress.

The Romney book also notes that Romney considered Sinema as a potential running mate when he pondered a presidential campaign to challenge then-President Donald Trump in 2020 mostly out of fear that former Vice President Joe Biden “would be incapable of making the argument.”

Sinema was “high on the list” of ideal running mates, Coppins wrote.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: 'Romney' book off mark on my reelection words