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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Says She Will Not Run for Reelection; Super Tuesday: CO Voters Cite Border, Democracy As Priorities. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[15:01:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thanks so much for joining us on CNN NEWS CENTRAL this afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar in Washington.

And we start with breaking news from the nation's Capitol.

Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announcing she will not run for re-election, a decision that could pave the way for a Republican successor, something that would dramatically shift the makeup of the U.S. Senate.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes. Let's get straight now to CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju, who is on Capitol Hill.

Manu, tell us what Sinema said about her decision.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, she really laments the state of politics. Sinema has been a key player during the Biden administration, was key to legislation that has become law, such as the infrastructure law, as well as the CHIPS and Science Act, codifying same-sex marriage. Also tried to push forward a bipartisan border security deal that Republicans blocked earlier this year.

But she's also been someone who has faced relentless criticism, mostly from the left flank, because of her defense of the Senate's filibuster, efforts to try to weaken that filibuster rule to allow legislation to pass along a simple majority. In the last Congress, she rejected that. And her and Joe Manchin and the like prevented that from essentially being changed. As a result, she's faced a lot of pushback. She also decided to become an independent and caucus with Democrats. And she weighed whether to run for re-election as independent. But announcing just moments ago it was time for her to step aside from the Senate because of what she said is this - because of her concerns about the state of our politics, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-AZ): We've arrived at that crossroad and we chose anger and division. I believe in my approach. But it's not what America wants right now. I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we've delivered. Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But this is going to have major ramifications for control of the United States Senate. She had weighed that third-party bid in a race for her to keep this seat. Right now, Ruben Gallego, who's a progressive Democrat, is running in the Democratic primary. Kari Lake, a conservative Republican, running in the Republican primary. If she were to run, it was unclear how that would impact things. One side believe it could help the other side.

And I just talked to Sen. Steve Daines, the Senate GOP campaign chairman, who believes that this will actually bolster Kari Lake's chances. The concerns being that Sinema could have siphoned away some moderate Republican vote who may not have been willing to support Kari Lake. Of course, the Democrats see it the opposite side. But nevertheless, Arizona is going to be one of the most significant races to watch this November, something that could determine control of the United States Senate and will have huge ramifications for the next president, whether it's Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

So this moment, significant for the Senate, significant for the makeup of the chamber, the deal-making that happens in this body, but also for who controls it come November, guys.

KEILAR: Yes. All right. Manu, thank you for that.

SANCHEZ: The other big headline this afternoon, if you haven't heard, it's Super Tuesday. Today, over 2,000 delegates are at stake across two parties, 16 states and one U.S. territory. All those numbers could very well add up to a rematch that polls show most Americans don't even want, President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And you keep acknowledging American Samoa.

SANCHEZ: I do.

KEILAR: And I'm so glad that you do for that.

SANCHEZ: They should be recognized.

KEILAR: They should be.

All right. So today, former President Trump hoping to end Nikki Haley's underdog campaign for good with a Super Tuesday sweep, and President Biden as the incumbent expecting to coast to the Democratic nomination, even as headwinds on immigration, the Israel-Hamas war, and inflation threaten to dismantle his 2020 coalition.

We're covering this across the board the only way that CNN can. Let's start with the John Berman in Colorado for us.

[15:05:03]

All right, Berman. So the Supreme Court reinstating Trump's eligibility for the Colorado primary yesterday. What are voters saying?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, first of all, I can confirm that, in fact, it is Super Tuesday. You are 100 percent right about that, Brianna. And this is Castle Rock, Colorado. And this is an in-person voting location. Now, I'm stressing that because it's one of 150 places you can vote in person today and there has been a slow but steady trickle of people. Why not that many? Because most people in this state vote in drop boxes or by mail.

You can actually vote in a drop box here today. You can show up with your ballot already filled in and put it in that box right there, then walk out and go about your business here in beautiful Colorado. If you do want to vote here today, you get your ballot over there. You fill it in and you put it in that box separately right there.

Now, Brianna, I can show you here. We have some sample ballots. You mentioned Donald Trump, the Supreme Court ruling where the Supreme Court said that states can't bar Trump from being on the ballot for being an insurrectionist. You can see his name is on the ballot right there. It would have been on the ballot anyway. It has been on the ballot because of a stay in the earlier court ruling, but the Supreme Court just clarified that.

On the Democratic side, one thing I want to point out, you can see in the small print at the bottom, non-committed delegates. In Michigan, uncommitted votes became a little bit of an issue there. Doesn't seem to be the level of campaign here for uncommitted voters, but if that number does get above 15 percent, they would have delegates at the Democratic Convention.

We have seen voters here. We did have a chance to talk to a few of them more than a hundred feet away from the doors here. That's the rules. Listen to what they said about why they were here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's the most important issue to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Immigration.

BERMAN: Immigration?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BERMAN: How so?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that we need to secure the borders and make sure that everything is handled appropriately. The people that come in the country, we help them, but then it's also done in the right way.

BERMAN: Who's the best candidate to handle that, do you think? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pick Trump.

BERMAN: And who'd you pick?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for Trump.

BERMAN: So you voted in the Democratic primary?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today.

BERMAN: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's all about democracy this year.

BERMAN: And who'd you vote for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So you can see, Brianna, the competing views of this campaign from the voters who are showing up here to cast their in-person ballots. Nearly a million people, I should say, have already voted here in Colorado. Brianna?

SANCHEZ: And John, in your conversations with voters, did the Supreme Court decision come up in any way?

BERMAN: I did speak to one voter who said the number of court cases involving Donald Trump has motivated her to vote for Trump. So for voters, I think, inclined to vote for Trump already, it is a motivating factor that pushes them to support him perhaps even more. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Interesting tidbit there. John Berman live from Castle Rock, Colorado. Thanks so much, John.

Let's take you now to Virginia and CNN's Jessica Dean. There's a fierce battle for the suburbs of Virginia. Jessica, what are you hearing from voters?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we are in the suburbs of Richmond. So this is the type of place and the type of voters that especially in a general election in a very purple state like Virginia, are going to make a huge difference. And so we are outside this polling location, which is at an elementary school. That's the law here in Virginia. We can't be inside, and we're appropriately away from the door.

But we did talk to one voter earlier. Our colleague, Alayna Treene, caught up with this voter. He called himself a recovering Republican who did not vote for Trump, but did vote for Nikki Haley this time. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: If it ends up being a Trump versus Biden rematch, do you know who you'd vote for?

DOUG MORAN, VIRGINIA VOTER: Yes, I'll hold my nose and vote for Biden again. I just think I have moral objections to and - moral and political objections to the way Donald Trump ran his campaign, and served in the office, and the - some of the choices he's made are, I think, just wrong for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Boris and Brianna, we did see voting not too long ago in those off-year elections here in Virginia back in November, where we saw Democrats take both chambers here in the state of Virginia, and abortion was one of the key issues. So it's places like this that we are really interested to see what voters are saying, what's on their mind. We'll keep talking to them throughout the day.

KEILAR: All right, and they are going to speak, and speak loudly as they vote today.

Jessica, thank you for that.

All right. You heard from some voters. Now let's see what the candidates in the campaigns are saying. We have Kristen Holmes in Palm Beach. She's following all things Trump. We have Kylie Atwood in Charleston, South Carolina, where Nikki Haley is spending Super Tuesday.

Kristen, to you first, how does the Trump campaign expect things to play out today?

[15:10:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, look, they know that he's not going to become the presumptive nominee tonight. He's not going to meet that delegate threshold, but the hope is twofold. The first part of this is that they hope that he gets enough delegates so that he can reach that milestone next week, that he will become the presumptive nominee then. The other thing that they're hoping for is that there's a definitive enough win tonight that it essentially forces Nikki Haley out of the race.

Now, they are keenly aware that Haley has said - has not said what she would do after Super Tuesday, but they are not banking on her dropping out. They've already pivoted to a general election. Something interesting we just heard from Jess talking about those suburban voters in Virginia. All of this information that is coming out of Super Tuesday is information that Donald Trump's campaign is going to take into a general election: Who is showing up to vote? Where are people voting? What does enthusiasm look like within the Republican Party?

They are going to be compiling all of this data as they try to figure out where they want to put their resources heading into November. One thing I keep hearing from these senior advisors, they believe that every state, or at least most states, are in play, and they know that every single vote is going to count in this potential rematch with Joe Biden.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, thanks so much.

Let's pivot to Kylie now and get some perspective from Haley world.

Kylie, it speaks volumes that Nikki Haley isn't out on the campaign trail today.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nikki Haley said that she wanted to be at home. She wanted to be monitoring more than a dozen states that are voting here in South Carolina. She was in Texas yesterday. And we should note that her campaign in Fort Worth was her final scheduled campaign rally. As she has said, that she is solely focused on Super Tuesday right now.

People have asked what's next for her, if she's going to compete on March 12th, if she's going to take it to the convention to make it a brokered convention, a competitive convention. She has said it all rests on what happens on Super Tuesday. So that is significant. She was asked earlier today on Fox News if she would drop out, if she doesn't have a successful night tonight.

I want you to listen to how she responded to that. I also want you to take a listen in terms of how she described her voters. She was very defensive of them, very protective of them. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why everybody's so adamant that they have to follow Trump's lead to get me out of this race. All of these people deserve to vote, 16 states want to have their voices heard. They don't want to be ignored. They don't want to be just said that that's nothing. They're actually quite something and they want something different in our country and I respect them tremendously for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, in the last few days, Nikki Haley has actually given a number of reasons for why she doesn't believe she is bound any longer to her pledge that she made last year to back the eventual nominee of the Republican Party. So that is a space for us to watch, but of course we'll see what happens tonight as her campaign is hoping for at least a victory or two on this Super Tuesday.

SANCHEZ: Kylie Atwood, thanks so much for the update.

KEILAR: And still to come, we have our special coverage of Super Tuesday continuing. We're going to dip in on these polling places in Colorado, Texas. We're going to California. We're going to see what is driving turnout in those states.

SANCHEZ: And it's not just the presidential race that's got people fired up. We're taking a look at some of those key down-ballot primaries happening today. Those stories and much more still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:48]

SANCHEZ: We're just a few hours away from the first polls closing, but there's still a lot to talk about on this Super Tuesday, including a surprising headline we got today out of Capitol Hill.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema saying that she's out at the end of the year. She's done. She's not going to seek re-election. So let's talk about everything with our panel of political experts.

And it's really interesting, you guys, when you look at the explanation that she gave here. She said, "Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year."

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that sounds a lot nicer than because I have no path to win.

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm in third.

NAVARRO: You're right.

TODD: I'm in third, that's the (inaudible) version.

NAVARRO: Yes, that's - that doesn't - that's just not as pretty to say in a - in an - listen, I saw former senator Jeff Flake during the summer where he's serving as ambassador of Turkey. We were talking about this race somewhat. And he's somebody that had to face the same reality of not having a path. And there's just not a path for an independent in Arizona right now, and certainly not for Kyrsten Sinema.

SANCHEZ: How much of it just has to do with the politics of the moment? Because she was one of the architects of this bipartisan Senate deal to try to bring aid to Ukraine and to address issues at the border. And it may be that some of that failure, aside from the political reality in Arizona, discouraged her.

ALENCIA JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes. And also, look, the Democratic Party, myself included, has said goodbye, good riddance to her, because she did stall some key pieces of the bipartisan legislation that we have championed over these last few years. But some of this I think we've talked about it before. She has a bit of an ego. And as we're talking about, she doesn't have a path forward. Where does she go afterwards?

And I think this helps Arizona Democratic Party and Republican Party figure out their paths for their nominees in order to, hopefully, one of them wants to get one of these seats.

NAVARRO: The Democratic base might have said goodbye to her, but she was important in keeping Chuck Schumer where he is.

JACKSON: She does.

TODD: She's not far - she's not left enough. I mean, just like Mitt Romney's not right - conservative enough to be nominated in his state, she's not far left enough. The Democratic Party hasn't moved so far left that Kyrsten Sinema, who came from the left part of the Democratic Party when she went to the House, she no longer has a home there.

[15:20:06]

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and if you take her at her word that the reason why she's leaving is not necessarily just because she's in third place, but because being in the Senate is not the most fun place to be these days or the place where you can actually get a ton done. And you're seeing all sorts of retirements from folks kind of in the political center, the pragmatic types who are looking at the environment in Washington and saying, I don't think I can actually do anything positive here in elected office. So I don't think this is the last of the big retirements that we may see over the coming year.

KEILAR: Yes. That's - you're right. The reality may be that to sort of be there in the center mean or in the Senate - in center, in Senate or anywhere, means you are going to be in third place. Maybe that's also a message which I think we can agree on here. What does that mean then, Kirsten, about what Congress is going to look like and sound like and legislate like when you have all those people leaving?

ANDERSON: Well, certainly it's going to mean that you have a lot less experience. And for many voters right now, that's actually a positive. They think there needs to be more turnover. They want to see fresh voices, fresh faces. But with that said, there is some benefit to having institutional knowledge in these chambers. It helps to get things done.

So if you're a voter who, on the one hand, thinks there's too many people there that have been too long, we need fresh faces, but are also, why isn't Congress getting anything done, there is some contradiction there to those two things when push comes to shove.

NAVARRO: The biggest change we're going to see is the absence of Mitch McConnell as a ...

ANDERSON: Yes.

NAVARRO: ... Republican leader. Kyrsten Sinema has been a thorn in the side of the Democratic base for a long, long time, really irritates them. But she's also been key to help craft these bipartisan deals, many of which have ended up being legislation passed by Joe Biden, signed by Joe Biden. So she's kind of like in that mavericky model of Arizona. And I think this is very good for Ruben Gallego.

Ruben Gallego is a former Marine. He is Hispanic, very smart, very likable and he's going to be running against Kari Lake, who I think many, many Republicans who would have voted for John McCain or for Jeff Flake are going to find too extreme. SANCHEZ: Let's pivot to the voting that's happening today and Super Tuesday.

Brad, before we came on, you were walking us through where on the map today Nikki Haley has the best chance of winning some delegates. What do you think the minimum she has to accomplish tonight is to keep her campaign going?

TODD: Well, frankly, we won't know till the morning when the contributions come in. Presidential candidates never quit because of politics, they quit because fundraising dries up. And so if she feels like she's still raising enough money, and in this day and age that means money over the internet, it comes in as small and moderate donations, and it happens instantaneously reacting to the news, I think that's the question.

The question is not how many delegates she wins tonight and she could win some. She could win some in Northern Virginia. She - I think Vermont is an opportunity, I think Utah is an opportunity for her, Minnesota might be an opportunity. So she could win a few delegates, but I think really the question will be does she believe her donors will be there tomorrow?

KEILAR: Where would Nikki Haley voters go, do you think?

JACKSON: Well, that's a question that I have, that I've had at the beginning of this primary season is that she's trying to appeal to the never Trump Republicans, the Republicans who are tired of Donald Trump, but then what happens in the general? We know that a third party race would unfortunately - a third party candidate would unfortunately hand over the election to Donald Trump.

So do they go over to Joe Biden, like the voter we saw in the block before who said he would hold his nose and go vote for Joe Biden? Are some of her supporters going to go to Joe Biden, and are some prominent voices that don't believe in Donald Trump in the Republican Party, are they going to hold their nose and vote for President Biden?

ANDERSON: I think there are two types of voters who have been going for Nikki Haley in these primaries. The first are self-identified Republicans who really just wish Donald Trump was not the direction their party was going, but at the end of the day, I think in a general are probably going to come home and vote Republican. They will hold their nose and they will vote for Donald Trump. That's most of the self-ID'd Republicans.

But you've had in places like New Hampshire and in South Carolina, a lot of disaffected Democrats, some independents participating. They hate that they think their choices might be Biden and Trump, and they wanted to do whatever they could to not have to face that choice in November. Those voters, I can see a sizable number of them actually winding up and going to Biden.

NAVARRO: Republicans have a habit and tradition of coming home and lining up behind the nominee. But we are seeing very strong voices, voices like Mitt Romney saying, hell no. Voice - well, he doesn't say hell. He doesn't cuss, that's me. Voices like Liz Cheney saying, there's no way that we're going to vote for Romney, so - for Trump. So let us see what happens as we get closer.

I think there's going to be some of both.

[15:25:00]

I think a lot of them are going to come home, but I think there's going to be a significant number, maybe just enough, that don't vote for Trump.

JACKSON: Especially in those Biden-Trump districts that help keep that Republican majority very slim in the midterms. I think in those areas, we will see some of this.

TODD: I think it's in Donald Trump's interest actually for Nikki Haley to stay in the race all the way through. Because I think there are people who have misgivings about him in the Republican Party, it's 20- , 25 percent. I think if they have the chance to vote against him in the primary, it's much easier for him to bring them home in the general. I know it's a little counterintuitive, but I think when you are a primary candidate who has a section that's unhappy, you need to let the horses run a little bit and so I think ...

NAVARRO: How do you bring them home when you're saying to them - if you're not supporting me, if you're supporting her, get out of the party?

TODD: I think again, Joe - the election in the end will not end up being about Donald Trump's rhetoric, it's going to be about Joe Biden's record. And I think that Trump's best hope is for him to be able to put that focus back on Joe Biden and be able to welcome people back after they voted for somebody else.

NAVARRO: Welcoming Trump.

SANCHEZ: I constantly wish that during these panels ...

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... we had more time. Unfortunately, we got to leave it there. Brad, Ana, Kristen, Alencia, thank you all so much.

So 16 states are voting today on Super Tuesday, but North Carolina is the only real swing state among them. Ahead, what we might be able to learn from a state which could be critical come November. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just a few minutes.

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