Sen Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is, to many, an enigma: a former Green Party activist who became one of the most conservative Democrats in the US Senate and then left the Democratic Party entirely last week. But thanks to reporting from Slate, we do know one thing for certain about Ms Sinema: she is a prolific Facebook Marketplace user.
On Thursday, Slate’s Christina Cauterucci published an article detailing her experience buying a pair of Badgley Mischka heels from a person who she believed was Ms Sinema.
The senator’s office would not confirm whether the account that had listed the shoes belonged to the senator, but after the article’s publication, Jim Small of the Arizona Mirror confirmed that the account is Ms Sinema’s.
Ms Cauterucci’s article notes that Ms Sinema is a “highly rated” seller on Facebook Maretplace, with strong customer ratings in Pricing, Punctuality, and Communication. In total, she has listed 84 items on the marketplace, which functions similarly to Craigslist in that it allows people to sell items to each other online.
Ms Sinema’s use of the site has included days on which she has voted on presidential nominees in the Senate and taken major steps in her political career. Ms Sinema’s use of Facebook Marketplace has not broken any Senate rules or laws, and is a point in common with a vast number of Americans who use the site similarly.
But Ms Sinema’s politics and position make her a character of unusual intrigue. In the past two years, she and Sen Joe Manchin of West Virginia emerged as frequent blocks on President Joe Biden’s agenda — opposing fillibuster reform, stalling the Build Back Better Act and aligning themselves with the interests of major corporations.
Mr Manchin represents an overwhelmingly Republican state, but Ms Sinema does not — Arizona voted for Mr Biden in 2020 and will soon have a Democratic governor. The state’s junior senator, Mark Kelly, is also a Democrat.
Ms Sinema is up for re-election in 2024 and announced last week that she has left the Democratic Party to become an independent. She will keep her committee assignments in the Senate, but presumably won’t run in a Democratic primary that she likely would not be favoured in.
Ms Sinema is an ultra-marathoner, a wine aficionado and, we now know, a Facebook Marketplace user where she sells designer clothes and bike gear.
