How Harry Reid Would Have Handled Kyrsten Sinema

Semafor asked Jim Manley, a former top aide to the late Sen. Harry Reid, how the legendary Senate leader would have dealt with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema going independent.

Said Manley: “He would have handled it the exact same way as Senator Schumer has, in that as leaders you have to keep your eye on the prize. And that means realizing that despite her incredibly selfish move to bolt from the party a day or so after the special election in Georgia, she will still allow the Democrats to keep control of the Senate. And in the end that’s all that matters.”

He added: “There’s no room here for LBJ- style threats or retaliation. As long as she votes to make Senator Schumer the next majority leader of the Senate that’s the whole game. Senator Reid defended then-Senator Lieberman when the left demanded that he be stripped of his committee chairmanship after viciously attacking then candidate Obama during the 2008 election.”