Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the first-term Arizona lawmaker who's an Independent after leaving the Democratic Party two years ago, faces an uphill struggle if she wants to run for reelection, Axios reported on Tuesday.
She so far has not revealed her intentions, but time is running out if she wants to be on the November ballot.
If Sinema does enter the race, it would set up a rare three-candidate competitive contest that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
The first obstacle Sinema faces is she needs to file about 42,000 valid signatures from Arizona voters by April 1. That's six times the amount required for those running with a party.
But before she can even begin doing that, Sinema must file a "statement of interest" with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, which she has not done yet.
Local consultant Meghan Cox, who has organized major signature campaigns, told Axios that Sinema probably would need between 60,000 and 65,000 signatures to ensure that enough of them are valid, which is only realistic if she starts the campaign in the next two weeks.
Although Sinema has more than $10 million, which is some $4 million more than her closest potential competitor, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, her fundraising has decreased dramatically since she left the Democratic Party.
Sinema just reported her worst quarter of the cycle, with less than $600,000, compared to Gallego's $3.3 million and GOP candidate Kari Lake's $2.1 million.
Even if Sinema gets the required number of signatures, a further obstacle is that she will be without a true base.
Although 34% of Arizona voters are independents, which is more than registered Democrats and almost equal to Republicans, they have varying degrees of opinions on all issues and candidates.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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