Karl W. Smith, Columnist

Democrats Should Be Thanking Sinema and Manchin

The two senators aren’t stifling their party’s agenda so much as saving it from overreach.

October 27, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

Karl W. Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Previously, he was vice president for federal policy at the Tax Foundation and assistant professor of economics at the University of North Carolina.

Where to send the thank-you notes?
Photographer: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

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Democratic frustration with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema has reached such a level that some left-of-center commentators are suggesting that the two senators should leave the party. The ideological divide fueling this irritation is legitimate, but at this point it makes more sense — on both policy and political grounds — for Democrats to embrace the moderation of their two wayward senators.

President Joe Biden’s approval numbers have been in decline for several months, and the growing discontent already seems to be affecting Democrats overall. The Virginia governor’s election, scheduled for next week, is a dead heat. That’s a state Biden won by 10 points last year, and where the Democrat beat the Republican by a similar margin in the 2017 governor’s race.