Washington Examiner · Jan 29, 2023
Other Democrats in the state feel differently and think the fifth-term House Democrat’s background as a veteran, and the fact that he will be running to become the state’s first Latino senator, could generate excitement among both Democrats and independents.
“It’s a potential risk given the makeup of Arizona, but I would again say he’s got plenty of time,” said Matt Grodsky, an Arizona Democratic strategist with Matters of State Strategies.
“He's got energy and momentum, and he's got time to build a coalition. I mean, I’m never gonna bet against a Latino in Arizona or Latino who was a Marine,” he added. “I think if he's got enough of the business community, independents, stakeholders across the state, he could be formidable.”
Grodsky pointed out that if Sinema decides to run for reelection as an independent in the state, she’ll face a significantly higher signature threshold to get on the ballot.
“When you’re an independent, that’s substantially more signatures. So, Sinema has to get over 50,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. She’ll probably need to get something like 70,000 to have a healthy buffer. So, the real thing I’d be looking for, given the fact she has a year and a couple of months to make it on the ballot, does her campaign start making expenditures to get paid circulators out trying to get people to sign?” he said.
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