
Washington’s revolving door between lawmakers and its lobbying class saw former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) emerge with a new job on Monday.
The onetime Democrat, attorney, and the first out bisexual member of the U.S. Senate has joined the global law firm Hogan Lovells as a senior advisor.
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Sinema told Reuters she’ll help clients involved in artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, digital assets, and other industries “navigate complex regulatory and legislative environments” as a member of the firm’s global regulatory and intellectual property practice group.
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She will not register as a lobbyist, Sinema said.
The former member of the Senate Banking, Commerce, Appropriations, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security committees told Politico she’ll be working mostly with clients in industries where she’s long “had interest and expertise,” including private equity.
She cited Hogan Lovells’ growing global regulatory practice and its focus on leading-edge industries in the tech space for the move.
Sinema’s K Street landing follows her joining an advisory council at crypto exchange Coinbase in January, alongside Chris LaCivita, co-campaign manager for Donald Trump’s latest run for president.
Sinema was considered a reliable ally of the business community during her time in the Senate, with a virtual veto of much of President Joe Biden’s signature legislation. She voted against several of Biden’s labor nominees and opposed increasing the federal minimum wage, provoking Democrats’ ire.
Sinema was also instrumental in rescuing the carried interest loophole during the Biden administration, a pro-business tax exemption Democrats were looking to scuttle.
“I’ve really focused on helping people solve complex challenges and problems, bringing unlikely people together in a room to find unlikely outcomes,” Sinema said of her time in Congress and the Arizona legislature.
Sinema, 48, served a single term in the Senate. She declined to run again after changing her party affiliation to independent in 2022 and seeing her poll numbers tank as she colluded with Republicans to block much of President Biden’s agenda.
“There’s always opportunities for bipartisan action,” Sinema said about the current political landscape, a refrain she’s relied on throughout her career. “It’s really about providing a perspective that allows people to see the benefit for them in engaging in those trust-based relationships, and providing a pathway that makes it reasonable and beneficial for people to do that work.”
However, when she announced her decision to forego a reelection bid last March, Sinema said bipartisanship is “not what America wants right now.”
“Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year,” she said in a video message posted to social media.
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