On Saturday, Arizona Democratic Party voted in favor of formally censuring Krysten Sinema. Sen. Sinema has been one among the two Democrats in the Senate, the other being Joe Manchin, who have opposed the rule change brought in by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday; thereby depriving the Democrats of passing the much needed voting rights bill. She had also opposed the original Build Back Better $3.5 million cost which had provisions for child care, climate change and more and it was passed at a much lower cost.

In a statement, Arizona Democratic Party chairperson Raquel Teran said that she wanted to clearly say that although the Arizona Democratic Party was a diverse coalition which had a lot of policy disagreements, the party had been crystal clear “on the matter of the filibuster and the urgency to protect voting rights.”

Teran added that they chose to protect the Arizonans’ right to vote rather than an archaic legislative norm and they would always do so.

On Wednesday, Chuck Schumer brought in a rules change. This would have permitted the Democrats to pass the voters rights legislation using a simple majority of votes to do so. However, Democrats Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin joined the opposing Republicans and voted against the rule change. This legislation was a key priority for the Democrats.

President Joe Biden said that he had been “profoundly disappointed” after the Democrats lost the vote. Vice President Harris who presides over the Senate said that senators had voted to preserve an “archaic Senate procedure” instead of securing “fundamental freedom.”

Senator Bernie Sanders said that the two senators had forced them to go through “five months of discussions” that had been of no use.

After Saturday’s censure by her own party, Sinema’s press secretary Hannah Hurley released a statement. It said that the senator had “promised Arizonans” that she would be an “independent voice for the state” and she had delivered on it.