Latinos kick off a campaign to oust Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. They might actually succeed

Voto Latino has had enough of Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and is pledging to spend “six figures” to get rid of her when she’s up for re-election in 2024.

The national grassroots political group is just the latest to pile up against Sinema, who has been formally censured by the Arizona Democratic Party’s executive committee over her support of the filibuster.

“The people of Arizona deserve a Senator willing to fight for democracy and protect the sanctity of every Americans’ vote,’’ Voto Latino’s Maria Teresa Kumar said, who announced the ¡Adios Sinema! campaign this week.

Sinema needs Democratic support to win

Voto Latino, just like the influential EMILY’s List and others who recently came out against Sinema, isn’t bluffing.

It has set up the adiossinema.org website to raise money and remind Arizonans that the first-term senator has blocked everything from voting rights to increasing the minimum hourly wage to $15 to pandemic relief for undocumented immigrants.

Sinema, who’s basking in Republican approval after she opposed changing the U.S. Senate filibuster rule, has clearly bet her future on her formidable ability to attract big donors in Arizona and elsewhere.

But she’ll need Democratic voters to get out of the primary – if she wants to stay in the U.S. Senate where its current 50-50 split gives her outsized power to shape or kill President Biden’s agenda.

She didn’t have a serious competitive primary in 2018 and went on to defeat Republican Martha McSally by 55,900 votes in the general election. That was possible thanks to a broad coalition of Arizonans, including independents, moderate Republicans and Latinos, who sweated out knocking on doors on her behalf.

She is no 'maverick' like John McCain

That won’t be the case anymore. Plus, according to Kumar, there will be another 160,000 Latinos of voting age by 2024 – adding to the already 1.1 million eligible to vote.

Others constantly remind me of Sinema’s bottomless war chest. They argue that her latest stunt actually makes her an unbeatable “maverick” just like the late Republican Sen. John McCain who was also censured by his party.

But Sinema is no John McCain and she won’t be a torchbearer of the McCain legacy – as much as she and her remaining supporters may want you to believe.

For starters, Arizona’s political landscape is dramatically different than when McCain was censured.

McCain, a Vietnam veteran prisoner of war and one-time presidential nominee, was no stranger to stiff opposition from conservatives who viewed him as too liberal. But in 2010, for example, he defeated conservative primary opponent J.D. Hayworth.

In 2014, the state’s GOP censured McCain for his “liberal record,” which hurt him but not enough to keep him from later winning the primary against Kelli Ward and the general election.

Ward, head of the Arizona Republican Party, is one of the leaders of the “Big Lie” of a stolen presidential election.

Politics have changed. Latinos could oust her

Those Republicans – the Trump loyalists and conspiracy theorists – are now the mainstream populists that hold the key to any and all statewide primaries. Neither McCain nor any other candidate would survive a GOP primary under today’s political reality without going all-in on Trump.

By contrast, the Arizona Democratic Party that censured Sinema over the weekend also reflects the broad sentiment among primary voters.

Yes, Sinema has the money to spread her message should she choose to seek re-election. But a 55,900-vote advantage isn’t unsurmountable.

That means Latino voters alone can stop her in her tracks.

Yes, there are more than two years until anyone can cast a vote against her, and that is an eternity in politics. But no money or time can stop a movement when so many have been so deeply hurt and feel betrayed.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema could lose if Voto Latino keeps this up