(DCWatchdog.com) – US Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who in December changed her party affiliation from “Democrat” to “Independent,” mocked her former Democratic Party lawmakers during a private meeting with GOP lobbyists, according to a report.
Kyrsten Sinema is still in her first six-year term as a member of the US Senate from Arizona after serving three two-year terms in the US House of Representatives.
In the previous US Congress, she was known as one of the two Democratic Party dissenters together with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Her comments ridiculing the Democrats in Congress came at a small reception in the nation’s capital earlier this year, Politico reported citing a GOP source.
“I’m not caucusing with the Democrat. I’m formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes, but apart from that, I am not a part of the caucus,” she pointed out, as cited by Newsmax.
Sinema was reportedly explaining why she stopped attending the weekly luncheons of the Democratic Party at the US Capitol.
“Those lunches were ridiculous,” she told the Republican lobbyists.
“Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are. I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back,” the Arizona US senator elaborated.
“The Northerners and the Westerners put Cool Whip on their Jell-O, and the Southerners put cottage cheese,” she added.
Sinema also dwelled on how she could do better things with her time than go to “those dumb lunches” of the congressional Democrats.
“I spend my days doing productive work, which is why I’ve been able to lead every bipartisan vote that’s happened the last two years,” argued the former Democrat, who is now an independent.
According to the quoted unnamed senior GOP officials, Sinema has been particularly derisive of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on more than one occasion.
“Sinema’s sniping spree has delighted the Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and donors who’ve taken in the show, giving some of them hope that she can be convinced to caucus with the GOP, either in this Congress or in the case she’s reelected as an independent,” Politico writes.
At the same time, however, the report points out that the top Republican in the US Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, “remains skeptical” about her switching sides even though she “has assiduously courted” him.
McConnell reportedly stays convinced that Sinema is a “Democrat at heart,” so he is focused on finding a “non-controversial” Republican candidate for Arizona’s 2024 US Senate election.
