Do we like them?Do we like Kyrsten Sinema?
Our score: 5 out of 10. No anti-LGBTQ+ words turned up, but her filibuster stand, her spending questions and a live lawsuit leave her in the middle.
Sinema rose to the Senate as a Democrat for Arizona, then quit the party in December 2022 and registered as an independent. She framed it as “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington” and said her voting wouldn't change. Arizona Democrats were not charmed, and had already censured her that January over the filibuster.
The filibuster is the heart of the stoush. Sinema backed the Equality Act, but she refused to end the filibuster that would have been needed to pass it. The same stance sank a 2022 voting rights bill and left the Women's Health Protection Act short in May 2022. She called the filibuster a rule that “compels moderation”, and LGBTQ+ groups were split on how hard to hit her for it.
On the harm check, the searches turned up no words or campaigning from her against trans people, women, migrants or the planet. What the record does show is a 2021 vote against lifting the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in a Covid relief package, which Advocate counted among its eight times she let supporters down. After leaving the Senate she joined the global firm Hogan Lovells as a senior adviser in March 2025. That is a career move, not a harm finding, and we found no sign of her platforming anyone who pushes harm.
Money questions follow her. The Advocate reported that she spent more than $100,000 in campaign funds on luxury hotels and private jets. It also noted a 2024 ethics complaint alleging personal travel was paid from her campaign committee. The paper added that campaign finance experts questioned a security contract paid to the sister of a former congresswoman. We found no ruling on any of it, so treat these as allegations and questions, not findings.
The fresh mess is a civil lawsuit brought in North Carolina by the ex-wife of a former member of her security detail. It uses the state's alienation-of-affection law, and the suit alleges she interfered in a marriage. Sinema acknowledged a romantic relationship in a March 2026 court filing and argued the case didn't belong in North Carolina. On 4 September 2026 a federal judge rejected that argument and let it proceed, citing text messages she sent into the state. That is a ruling on jurisdiction, not on the merits, and no verdict has been reported.
On the good side, her pitch has always been civility and deal-making. Announcing in March 2024 that she wouldn't seek re-election, she said she chose “civility, understanding, listening, working together”. Fans of that approach credit her with getting bipartisan things done, while critics say the same instincts gave Democrats the shoulder. Beyond that, we didn't find charity or acts of sacrifice that would lift her higher, and that is honestly the whole list.