Sinema’s party switch has major presidential implications

Tea leaves, Tarot cards, and crystal balls all agree: Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Friday re-registration from Democratic to independent will reverberate in the 2024 presidential race.

Sinema’s move could be an ominous one for the two-party-dominant system. Not since Ross Perot’s candidacies in 1992 and (to a lesser extent) 1996 has there been a greater potential for a non-Republican, non-Democratic candidate to contend seriously for the presidency. (And yes, Perot had a real chance to win in 1992 before he started behaving like a loon.) Especially with a doddering and incompetent Joe Biden apparently gearing up for a Democratic reelection bid and with Donald Trump likely to try torpedoing Republican chances if he is not that party’s nominee again, the public clamor for an alternative to both should be substantial.

Gallup reports that more people now self-identify as independents than as either Republicans or Democrats. So far, those independents have lacked an electoral vehicle to effectuate their rejection of both parties. Increasingly, though, anyone with a decent political antenna can discern a growing restlessness among them to turn their independence into action.