\n<\/p>\n
Ruben Gallego,<\/strong>\u00a0the Arizona congressman, was blunt in his assessment of Senator\u00a0Kyrsten Sinema<\/strong>\u2019s attendance at the Davos World Economic Forum this week\u2014a highfalutin annual meeting of political and corporate elites in a mountain town nestled in the Swiss Alps. \u201cMy general sentiment is that this is the kind of performance art that she does sometimes that I think is very tacky and distasteful to a lot of Arizonans,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though she thinks it\u2019s tactical, it\u2019s still tone-deaf.\u201d Under particular scrutiny was a\u00a0high-five<\/a> between senators Sinema and\u00a0Joe Manchin<\/strong>\u2014onstage at a Davos panel on the US legislative landscape\u2014over blocking any change to the Senate filibuster, the rule that effectively requires 60 votes to pass most bills, strengthening the minority party\u2019s power. To the chagrin of many of their Democratic colleagues, the duo\u2019s stance on this issue has been steadfast. The context of the hand-slapping, however? It came following\u00a0a discussion<\/a> about Sinema\u2019s refusal to bend the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation last year. \u201cIt just shows that she is absolutely separated from reality and from the Arizona voters,\u201d Gallego said.<\/p>\n Gallego saw an opening; he has not officially announced a run for Senate in 2024, when Sinema\u2019s seat is up for reelection, but he might. He\u00a0tweeted<\/a>, \u201cGuess this is why we missed her at all the MLK events in Arizona this week,\u201d in response to a report that Sinema had joined a private lunch with dozens of business leaders at the ritzy Hotel Schatzalp on the sidelines of Davos. The Replace Sinema group sent out a fundraising email that read, \u201cWhere\u2019s Kyrsten Sinema today?… As far away from her constituents as possible, and in the lap of luxury. Just as Sinema likes it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The image of Sinema in a white fur vest flanked by Manchin and members of society\u2019s upper-upper crust did emanate some pretty strong \u201cLet them eat cake\u201d energy. Sinema\u2019s\u00a0well-documented<\/a> kowtowing with other agents of the ultrarich certainly didn\u2019t help matters. (It should be noted that sipping tiny glasses of wine with\u00a0Anthony Scaramucci<\/strong> is probably a bad PR strategy for anyone.) But perhaps more than anything, Sinema\u2019s attendance at Davos\u2014an event former\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0editor\u00a0Jill Abramson<\/strong>\u00a0delightfully\u00a0dubbed<\/a> \u201ca corrupt circle-jerk\u201d\u2014serves as something of a portent for the political path Sinema is plotting in her newfound Independence with a capital i.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n Sinema\u2019s office did not respond to a\u00a0Vanity Fair<\/em> request for comment on the criticism the senator has faced over her attendance at the Davos forum.<\/p>\n At the beginning of December, Sinema announced that she was shedding her affiliation with the Democratic Party and registering as an independent. The move was not wholly unexpected given that Sinema was always considered something of a rogue actor within the Democratic Party\u2019s ranks. But her change in allegiance has thrown Arizona politics into disarray. The Senate race is already shaping up to be one of the most consequential of 2024. Gallego has emerged as an alternative to Sinema and is arguably the Democratic front-runner for the position, though he has not made anything official. Former TV newscaster turned MAGA darling\u00a0Kari Lake<\/strong> has reportedly signaled an interest in running for Senate following her loss to\u00a0Katie Hobbs<\/strong>\u00a0in the state\u2019s gubernatorial race\u00a0this past cycle, though she has\u00a0denied<\/a> any plans for a bid. And then there is Sinema, with her new status as an independent.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is hardly the first time that Sinema has faced criticism back home. Activists and some Democrats have castigated the senator throughout her tenure for abandoning the progressive bona fides she ran on. In 2021, Sinema flashed a\u00a0thumbs-down<\/a> when she voted against including a minimum wage raise in\u00a0Joe Biden<\/strong>\u2019s pandemic-relief bill, drawing acute ire. The Arizona Democratic Party went so far as to\u00a0censure<\/a> Sinema over her support for the Senate filibuster, and critics have also condemned her for cozying up to wealthy donors while\u00a0avoiding<\/a> town halls with constituents. Sinema has long ranked as one of the\u00a0most unpopular<\/a> senators in the country, and her decision to switch political teams\u00a0doesn\u2019t seem to be<\/a> winning over more voters either.\u00a0<\/p>\n But early polls do suggest that Sinema could prove to be a spoiler for Democrats in 2024. A\u00a0recent poll<\/a> from Public Policy Polling showed Sinema with just 13% of the vote in a three-way race with Gallego and Lake, who received 40% and 41%, respectively. Gallego, for his part, appears to be bracing for a brawl. As Politico\u00a0reported<\/a>, the Arizona representative has taken early steps to build a Senate campaign and has signed on veterans of the winning\u00a0Mark Kelly,<\/strong>\u00a0Raphael Warnock,<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0John Fetterman<\/strong>\u00a0campaigns. Gallego has\u00a0previously said<\/a> that activists and a number of his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill have encouraged him to run against Sinema. When asked whether the Davos shenanigans further boosted such support, Gallego said he thinks they \u201chave already hit their boiling point\u201d with Sinema. \u201cThey\u2019ve already tipped over. There\u2019s nothing else that\u2019s gonna tip them over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In our conversation, Gallego stopped short of making anything official. Instead, speaking to me as he dropped his son off at school, he joked, \u201cOne day, should I ever become a senator, I\u2019m going to pass a law to push back school start time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n