Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema switches to independent

(AP) — Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday she has registered as an independent, a renegade move that could bolster her political brand but won't upend the Democrats' narrow Senate majority. She says she will not caucus with Republicans.

Sinema, who faces reelection in 2024, has modeled her political approach on the maverick style of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. A vibrant yet often unpredictable force in the Senate, she tends toward the state's independent streak, frustrating Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to Democratic priorities.

Rather than assailing the Democratic Party in her statement Friday, she said she was “declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.”