JON GABRIEL: Sinema exits, leaving behind a divided Arizona.

Sinema joins a long list of frustrated Republicans and Democrats abandoning elective office to the cable-news shouters and ineffectual ideologues. Her own position was previously vacated by Senator Jeff Flake, who couldn’t get a hearing during the Trump era.

Her likely replacement will better fit the angry public mood, whoever wins. Republicans will nominate failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently running against a smattering of barely-knowns. Since her narrow 2022 defeat, Lake has spent most of her time insisting the election was rigged, losing court cases and posting selfies from Mar-a-Lago.

Representative Ruben Gallego, a four-term congressman from a deep-blue urban district, will represent the Democrats. He’s far less known, even in-state, but raised his profile with withering attacks on Sinema. He basically begged her to leave the party then got upset when she did.

Gallego seems an odd fit for Arizona since his progressive views are more in line with the Squad than an average Democrat. His X (formerly Twitter) feed is replete with profane tirades, dropping more f-bombs than Donald Trump on a bad-hair day.

In one of many soliloquys he intoned, “Just to be clear f**k you @tedcruz you f**king baby killer.” Not exactly the Federalist Papers, but that’s politics in the Year of Our Lord 2024.

So where does Sinema heads next? Why not aim higher than the Senate? “What’s next for Sinema after her Senate term runs out this year?… A vanity presidential campaign from corporate-backed No Labels…?”