The Story of Kyrsten Sinema

<p>As congressional Democrats dramatically scale back the most ambitious social spending bill since the 1960s, they’re placing much of the blame on moderates who have demanded changes.</p><p>One senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has played an outsized role in shaping the bill — but has remained quiet about why. Today, we explore what brought her to this moment.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/reid-j-epstein">Reid J. Epstein</a>, who covers campaigns and elections for The New York Times.</p><p><i>Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit </i><a href="http://nytimes.com/audio"><i>nytimes.com/audio</i></a><i> to join the beta.</i></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>How Senator Kyrsten Sinema has<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/kyrsten-sinema-arizona-democrat.html"> undergone a political metamorphosis.</a></li><li>Progressive activists have adopted<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/us/politics/kyrsten-sinema-joe-biden.html"> more aggressive tactics</a> against Ms. Sinema and other centrist holdouts as they have blocked aspects of President Biden’s agenda.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p>