WASHINGTON — In 2018, when she was still a member of the Democratic Party, Kyrsten Sinema ran her Senate campaign as a self-described "Arizona Independent," a distinction that helped her become the first Democrat to win the seat in three decades.
Five years later, progressives are betting that Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold, has moved far enough to the left that Democrats don't need to rely on an iconoclast like Sinema to win. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego launched his campaign for her seat last week, painting the race as a choice between an inaccessible incumbent beholden to special interests and a challenger who would be a lobbyist for working families.
There are several questions to be answered heading into next year's election, chiefly whether Gallego cleared the field, how much former President Donald Trump will influence the Republican primary, and what role, if any, Sinema will play in a potential three-person race. But the biggest question may be how purple is Arizona?
