Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema QUITS Democratic Party and registers as an independent - days after her party won 51st Senate seat: White House BACKS her move and believes they will keep 'working together'

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Enigmatic Senator Kyrsten Sinema sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill on Friday morning, switching her party affiliation to independent in a blow to Joe Biden just days after the Democrats secured a 51-seat majority in the upper chamber.

The former Democrat claims she will continue to vote in the same way she has for her first four years as senator of Arizona, without being constrained by party politics.

But it creates a storm for Biden, who has been celebrating a rare midterm gain for a sitting president as Democrats took a seat to go from a 50-50 split to a 51-49 majority following Raphael Warnock's Georgia runoff win.

Announcing the switch, the 46-year-old senator known for her bold outfits and for being one of the two Democratic swing votes said she 'never really fit into a box of any political party' and is close with allies on both sides of the aisle. 

The Ironman athlete said that her decision represents the 'growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system'. 

While the Democrats now retain a 50-49 majority over the Republicans, if Sinema chooses to side with the GOP, vice president Kamala Harris has the casting vote, meaning the governing party maintains its control.

The move means fellow rogue Democrat Joe Manchin maintains his powerful role and will be a crucial factor in passing or blocking Biden's agenda with the razor-thin margin.

Firebrand senator Kyrsten Sinema has switched her party affiliation to independent, just days after the Democrats secured an absolute majority in the upper chamber

The former Democrat claims she will continue to vote in the same way she has for her first four years as senator of Arizona without being constrained by party politics

The White House insisted that Sinema's move doesn't change anything and 'hopes' to carry on working with her.

'Senator Sinema has been a key partner on some of the historic legislation President Biden has championed over the last 20 months, from the American Rescue Plan to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, from the Inflation Reduction Act to the CHIPS and Science Act, from the PACT Act to the Gun Safety Act to the Respect for Marriage Act, and more,' press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

'We understand that her decision to register as an independent in Arizona does not change the new Democratic majority control of the Senate, and we have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her,' she added.

Sinema has not yet revealed whether she will stay in the Democratic caucus, but her plans to keep committee assignments shows she doesn't want to turn the balance of the Senate upside down. 

She tweeted this morning: 'In a natural extension of my service since I was first elected to Congress, I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent. 

'Over the past four years, I've worked proudly with other senators in both parties and forged consensus on successful laws helping everyday Arizonans build better lives for themselves and their families.

'Becoming an Independent won't change my work in the Senate; my service to Arizona remains the same.' 

Her switch follows years in a two-person awkward squad with Manchin that thwarted some of Biden's boldest legislative moves. She pushed hard to limit spending and tax increases, much to the fury of party leaders and progressive Democrats.

That anger was intensified by her reluctance to spell out red lines or goals, leading to a reputation as an enigmatic presence in the Democratic caucus. 

But she always said her stance was in line with the voters of Arizona, a once red state where she had won power by moving to the center. 

The first-term senator faces reelection in 2024 and could have expected to face a well-funded primary challenger from the more conventional party ranks, a challenge she now avoids by leaving the party. 

'Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,' she told Politico, adding that she will not caucus as a Republican.

Sinema informed Chuck Schumer of her decision on Thursday.

She said: 'I don't anticipate that anything will change about the Senate structure.

'I intend to show up to work, do the same work that I always do. I just intend to show up to work as an independent.' 

The senator said she has 'never really fit into a box of any political party' and is close with allies on both sides of the aisle.

That will disappoint Republicans keen to woo her and her vote.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton told Fox News: 'I've told her over the last few years that if she wanted to dip a toe into the Republican Party's pool we'd be happy to have her jump in with us as well.'

Sinema joins Republican and Democratic Senators after the chamber voted to advanced the same-sex marriage bill 

Her decision will come as a blow to Joe Biden who has been celebrating a rare midterm gain for a sitting president

Sinema said her decision was in line with voters who did not like to see politicians toe party lines. 

In an op-ed for the Arizona Republic published on Friday, she wrote: 'There’s a disconnect between what everyday Americans want and deserve from our politics, and what political parties are offering.

'I am privileged to represent Arizonans of all backgrounds and beliefs in the U.S. Senate and am honored to travel to every corner of our state, listening to your concerns and ideas.

'While Arizonans don’t all agree on the issues, we are united in our values of hard work, common sense and independence.

'We make our own decisions, using our own judgment and lived experiences to form our beliefs. We don’t line up to do what we’re told, automatically subscribe to whatever positions the national political parties dictate or view every issue through labels that divide us.' 

Sinema added that her constituents 'expect our leaders to follow that example - and set aside political games'.  

She has campaigned for increased gun safety and same-sex marriage in bipartisan deals but also infuriated her erstwhile Democrat colleagues for resisting higher taxes. 

Her socially liberal but fiscally conservative stance has seen her vote to impeach Donald Trump twice, oppose his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and support Biden's nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

But she also tanked the president's $3.5trillion Build Back Better proposal, even after he shaved more than $1 trillion from its cost.

Her switch of allegiance means she will avoid a head-to-head primary challenge in 2024 from progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego who had been rumored to take on the sitting senator.

It is the first party switch in more than a decade, with Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter swapping from the Republicans to the Democrats in 2009.

The last move from Democrat to Independent was in 2006 when Sen. Joe Lieberman abandoned the party. 

Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King are the other two independents in the Senate. However they caucus with the Democrats. 

Kyrsten Sinema's path from left-wing environmentalist to purple Arizona's first Democratic senator since 1994 and Biden's nemesis

At 14 she began taking college courses, and she finished high school a year early at 16

Sinema was born in 1976 to a father who practiced law and a mother who cared for her children in Tuscon, Arizona.

The family's fortunes changed and her father lost his job in the 1980s recession. Her parents divorced in 1983.

Her mother remarried and took Sinema and the two other children to Florida, and it was there that she lived in an abandoned gas station from the ages of eight to 11, according to AZCentral.

Sinema has spoken about her mother relying on food stamps when her parents got divorced and when her family was homeless. 

Things began looking up for her family in 1987 when her mother and stepfather secured work and they bought a house with the help of a church.

At 14 she began taking college courses, and she finished high school a year early at 16.

In two years she obtained a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, and she also married fellow student, Blake Dain. They later divorced.

In 2005, she made her first public comment about being bisexual, when a Republican's speech insulted members of the LGBT community.

She said: 'We're simply people like everyone else who want and deserve respect.'

When questioned by reporters, she replied: 'Duh, I'm bisexual.' 

Sinema, now 45, now has a master's degree, law degree and a PhD. She worked as a social worker, a criminal defense attorney, and was a political activist in her 20s, running as an independent Green Party candidate for the Arizona House. 

Success story: Kyrsten Sinema is pictured left shaking hands with Arizona State's Kobe Williams during the coin toss before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, in Tempe, Ariz. on November 3, and right at the game

She then became a Democrat and served several terms in the state Legislature. Sinema started as an overt liberal but developed a reputation for compromise among her Republican peers, laying the groundwork to tack to the center. She published a book on bipartisanship.

When the 9th Congressional District was created after the 2010 Census, Sinema ran for the Phoenix-area seat as a centrist and won the 2012 election. 

In 2019 she became Arizona’s first Democratic U.S. senator since 1994, the country's first openly bisexual senator, and the first female senator elected to represent Arizona in the Senate.