Ex-independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema called out several of her former Democratic colleagues over their apparent changing stances on eliminating the filibuster.
In January 2022, Sinema and then-West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin were the two Democratic senators to prevent the filibuster from being axed, and both maintained their support for the Senate tactic for the entirety of their tenure in the upper chamber of Congress. Under Republican control of the Senate, the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture has remained, and Democrats have benefited from the rule now being in the minority.
Sinema went to X on Saturday to call out Democrats and Democrat-aligned commentators over their “blatant hypocrisy” in previously calling for the elimination of the filibuster but now supporting its usage to block GOP bills.
“Change of heart on the filibuster, I see!” Sinema said, referring to one of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) posts calling for the tactic’s removal.
Change of heart on the filibuster, I see! https://t.co/q13rND50zC pic.twitter.com/dvkfVrSwJJ
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) March 15, 2025
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Sinema’s post, saying she was still against the filibuster and claimed that it had only been used to block Democratic proposals.
“Still no. In fact, the same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not, in fact, use it when we need it. It’s only used to block Dem policies. Never to block harmful GOP ones. Could have proved us wrong. Instead they proved the point,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Sinema responded by pointing to Democrats who had campaigned or called on the filibuster to be eliminated voting to filibuster the stopgap funding bill last week.
Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster.
38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday.
8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster.
1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster. https://t.co/BujERDunOR
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) March 15, 2025
“Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster. 38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday. 8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster. 1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster,” Sinema said.
In subsequent posts, Sinema pointed out multiple times that Democrats filibustered Republican legislation this year.
“Senate Dems have used the filibuster 2x in 2025 to stop bills. Perhaps we have a different definition of NEVER. I use the English definition: ‘at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever,’” the Democrat-turned-independent said.
Sinema also called out Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) for his stance on the filibuster, mocking a 2021 call to end the filibuster with “‘stand up for the Constitution and our democracy’ #ohlookthefilibuster.”
Khanna responded by claiming that if senators had eliminated the filibuster to pass a $15 per hour minimum wage, then Democrats would not have lost the 2024 election, a claim Sinema mocked in a subsequent post.
“Popular take from the Left: If u had eliminated the filibuster & voted for everything that the Left wanted, the threat of the filibuster being used by Rs would never happen bc Ds would win every election & have a permanent majority. What a breathtakingly undemocratic take,” Sinema said.
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The two continued to go back and forth, with Khanna targeting her previous “smug thumbs down that prevented us from raising America’s wages” and Sinema again suggesting he was being hypocritical.
“Once again, pointing out that you repeatedly demanded that the Senate eliminate the very tool you’re now demanding the Senate utilize to stop Trump. Doesn’t take a rocket science to see the blatant hypocrisy here,” Sinema said.
