Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has announced she is leaving the Democratic Party and will register as an independent shaking up Senate just as the Democrats secured a 51-49 majority. On Friday, in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic, she declared that the radicalization of her party is what caused her departure from the party. She stated that in modern politics, parties care more about blocking each other than actually getting things done for the well-being of their constituents. Sinema’s departure from the Democrats will shift the balance of power in the Senate which already was placed on a knifes edge.

Sinema wrote in the op-ed:

Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes,” Sinema wrote in the op-ed.

“Most Arizonans believe this is a false choice, and when I ran for the U.S. House and the Senate, I promised Arizonans something different,” she continued. “I pledged to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama.”

“When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans,” Sinema wrote in the op-ed.

“That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington. I registered as an Arizona independent. ”