Sinema, Kyrsten, 1976-

Kyrsten Lea Sinema (born July 12, 1976) is an American politician, attorney, social worker, and author serving as the senior United States Senator from Arizona since January 2019. A Democrat, she served three terms as a state representative for Arizona's 15th legislative district from 2005 to 2011, one term as the state senator for Arizona's 15th legislative district from 2011 to 2012, and three terms as the United States Representative for Arizona's 9th congressional district from 2013 to 2019.

Born in Tucson, Arizona and raised there and in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, Sinema earned her B.A. from Brigham Young University. She worked as a social worker from 1995 to 2002 in the Phoenix metropolitan area's Washington Elementary School District, receiving a Master of Social Work degree from Arizona State University in 1999. In 2004 she earned a J.D. degree from Arizona State University College of Law and became a criminal defense lawyer. In 2003, Sinema became an adjunct professor teaching master's-level policy and grant-writing classes at Arizona State University School of Social Work and an adjunct Business Law Professor at Arizona Summit Law School, formerly known as Phoenix School of Law. In 2008, Sinema completed the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government program for senior executives in state and local government as a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow. In 2012 she earned a Ph.D. in justice studies, also from Arizona State.

Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party and rose to prominence for her progressive advocacy, supporting causes such as LGBT rights and opposing the war on terror. She left the Green Party to join the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004 and was elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2012. After her election, she joined the New Democrat Coalition, the Blue Dog Coalition and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, amassing one of the most conservative voting records in the Democratic caucus. She won the 2018 Senate election to replace the retiring Jeff Flake, defeating Republican nominee Martha McSally. Sinema is the first openly bisexual and the second openly LGBT woman (after Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin) to be elected to the House of Representatives and to the Senate in 2012 and 2018, respectively. She also was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona.

Sinema is considered a centrist Democrat and a proponent of bipartisanship. During the 116th Congress, she voted with President Donald Trump's position roughly 25% of the time, the third-most of any Democratic senator, behind Joe Manchin and Mark Kelly.