Tight-Lipped Sinema Rivals Manchin as Democrats’ Wild Card

Kyrsten Sinema likes to make a statement. The 44-year-old senior senator from Arizona wore brightly colored wigs in the Capitol last year after hair salons shuttered because of Covid-19. Voting in March on whether to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, the centrist Democrat riled progressives by giving a curtsy and a playful thumbs-down. And last month she posted a picture of herself on Instagram sipping sangria and sporting a gold ring adorned with a profane message intended, presumably, for her critics: “F--- Off.”

But when it comes to where she stands on the issues, Sinema—who holds the power to quash any element of President Joe Biden’s agenda by withholding her vote in a 50-50 Senate—is something of a mystery. The other Senate Democrat most likely to split with his party, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, appears frequently on Sunday talk shows to discuss policy and navigates the Capitol’s corridors with reporters in tow. By contrast, Sinema is tight-lipped and seldom seen except on the Senate floor or inside committee rooms. (Spotted and asked if she would talk to Bloomberg Businessweek for this piece, she responded, “I have no interest in that.”)