June 18, 2021: I want to be the next John McCain
Kyrsten Sinema's advisers heard it constantly from her during her 2018 campaign for Senate: \u201cI want to be the next John McCain.\u201d\nAfter she won, Sinema called the late senator a \u201clegend\u201d and \u201cmy personal hero.\u201d This year, when she voted against a minimum wage hike, she rankled the left by mimicking McCain\u2019s iconic thumbs-down that tanked the GOP\u2019s effort to kill Obamacare.\nNow Sinema\u2019s commanding the spotlight not only as a rare swing vote in a hyperpartisan Congress but as a lead negotiator on an infrastructure deal that could determine the success of President Joe Biden's first term. If she pulls it off, she will establish herself, like McCain, as a legislative force inside the Senate.\n\xa0Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio.\xa0Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.