Senator Kyrsten Sinema has had enough of the Senate Democrats’ weekly caucus lunches. She said she has stopped attending them because they are “dumb luncheons.” She said the Senate lunches are where “old dudes are eating Jell-O.”

Sinema said she doesn’t caucus with Democrats and only aligns herself with them for committee assignments. She’s an Independent and she has been talking a lot to Republican senators. She has struck up a working relationship with Mitch McConnell. Will McConnell reach out and encourage her to come over to the GOP side of the aisle and caucus with Republicans? I would guess that is doubtful because she is still, at heart, a Democrat, but McConnell and Senate Republicans can continue to work with her. In the meantime, Sinema is slamming the Democrats for their waste-of-time luncheons.

“Those lunches were ridiculous,” she told a small group of Republican lobbyists at a reception in Washington this year in explaining why she had stopped attending her caucus’ weekly luncheons in the Capitol, according to an attendee.

First off, she explained, she was no longer a Democrat. “I’m not caucusing with the Democrats, I’m formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes,” Sinema said. “But apart from that I am not a part of the caucus.”

Then she let loose.

“Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” Sinema recounted to gales of laughter. “I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”

Now she was rolling.

“The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O,” she shared, “and the Southerners put cottage cheese.”

She is reclaiming her time, so to speak. She took back the three hours (total) that the luncheons take from her schedule. Maybe the Senate should put a couple of women in charge of the weekly events. Women know how to do lunch. And, they don’t sit around talking about how great they are – they talk about people who are not there. Kidding. Kinda. I can tell you from lots of personal experience that organized lunches can be very productive, especially in politics. Anyway, Senator Sinema’s description of Democrat lunches is probably brutally honest and accurate. The Republican lunches are probably the same.

Sinema said, “I spend my days doing productive work, which is why I’ve been able to lead every bipartisan vote that’s happened the last two years.” It’s hard to argue with her record of effectiveness and of working with both sides of the aisle. She marches to her own drumbeat and does what she thinks is right. She’s a more moderate Democrat than most of them these days and tends to be fiscally conservative when it comes to huge spending bills that no one has had time to read instead of breaking bills up and giving senators time to read what is in them. Like her frequent partner, Joe Manchin, Sinema talks a good game but usually ends up voting with the other Democrats in the end. Not always – she stood her ground about not nuking the filibuster and some of the obscene spending the Democrats demanded – but usually.

Other Democrats resent Sinema because she goes her own way and usually has the leverage to get her way. She’s smart. Should McConnell offer her a committee chairmanship in exchange for caucusing with Republicans? I don’t think so. As mentioned above, she’s still a Democrat. She has some conservative principles but not enough to really believe she’s a Republican. A Blue Dog Democrat? Yeah, I can accept that.

Now that Sinema has announced her break from weekly caucus luncheons, it will be interesting to see where she comes down on running for re-election. Democrats have been careful to keep her at arm’s length but not kick her aside so that if she does run again, she won’t go to the Republicans to help her save her seat. Schumer needs every Democrat possible in the closely divided Senate. 2024 is a favorable map for Republicans up for re-election. Let’s hope they don’t blow it.