U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) speaks at a news conference after the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act at the Capitol Building

Kyrsten Sinemawill not run for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2024, she announced on Tuesday.

Prior to backing out of the race, polls suggested that Sinema would have a tough road to reelection as a third-party candidate.

Sinemaleft the Democratic party in December 2022, writing in anop-edforThe Arizona Republic, “There’s a disconnect between what everyday Americans want and deserve from our politics, and what political parties are offering.”

At the time, Sinema said she planned to keep the committee assignments Senate Democrats had given her, saying that her new affiliation is intended to reflect how she’s “never really fit into a box of any political party,” according to Politico.

“Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” the senior Arizona senator, 47, told the outlet at the time.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema speaks with reporters in Washington.Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Senator Kyrsten Sinema(D-AZ) talks to reporters after the procedural vote on the same sex marriage bill, in Washington, DC.

Sinema positioned herself as one of Congress' biggest disruptors after being elected in 2018, but since switching parties, her future in the Senate has looked especially uncertain.

In early February, theNew York Timesreported that Sinema had raised just $600,000 in the final quarter of 2023 and was lagging behind a plan to hire campaign staff and conduct internal polling.

ARIZONA SENATE RACE: Ruben Gallego, Kari Lake, Kyrsten Sinema

The news comes months after Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallegoofficially announcedhe’d run for Sinema’s Senate seat, saying in a tweet he wanted to “win it back.”

Gallego currently serves the U.S. representative for Arizona’s 3rd congressional district, which includes parts of Phoenix and Glendale and at the time of his announcement was,according to one poll, “considerably more popular than Sinema and would be a top tier Senate candidate regardless of what she decides to do in 2024.”

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Kari Lake, a former television-anchor-turned-right-wing-politician who narrowlylost the race for Arizona governorin 2022,is also running for the seat, and appears most likely to earn the Republican nomination and face off with Gallego in November.

source: people.com