Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema leaves Democrats to become independent – live

Kyrsten Sinema’s bombshell defection from the Democratic party will have far-reaching consequences as Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer attempts to plot a course through the upcoming Congress.

In her op-ed in the Arizona Republic on Friday announcing the move, the enigmatic Sinema sought to assure voters that “becoming an independent won’t change my work in the Senate; my service to Arizona remains the same”.

But the free-spirited politician, the first openly bisexual woman in the Senate, says she considers the bipartisan system in the US “broken” and won’t pledge her support to either party:

Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes.

When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans.

Not that she fully supported the Democratic agenda in Joe Biden’s first two years in office, often teaming up with centrist West Virginia senator Joe Manchin to stall key parts of the president’s agenda.

Yet the statement will still alarm party leaders, who thought they had secured a 51-49 majority on Tuesday when Raphael Warnock won re-election in Georgia.

Unlike Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Angus King (Maine) who caucus with the Democrats, Sinema as an independent – unshackled by the Democratic party whip – will be an altogether different beast, whatever she says about her behavior not changing.

It’s not even clear she will retain her office on the Democratic side of the chamber. Or if she will re-election in 2024, something she says she won’t address yet.

It also restores “outsized influence in the Democratic caucus” to Manchin, according to Politico, which sat down for a 45-minute chat with Sinema this morning. Manchin was the main thorn in Biden’s side from within when the Senate was split 50-50.

We’re expecting to hear much more reaction today about the stunning news, including how Schumer intends to press on with committee assignments for the upcoming congress.

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Related: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema: the centrists blocking Biden’s agenda