The Democrats triumphed in Arizona this November, electing the governor and the secretary of state, and reelecting Senator Mark Kelley—in what used to be a red state. But then Senator Kyrsten Sinema quit the Democratic Party, and progressives moved toward a primary election to challenge her. On this week’s podcast, Steve Phillips explains how the victories happened, and what’s to be done about Sinema.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: The largest strike in the nation entered its fifth week. Thirty-six thousand grad student employees of the University of California—including teaching assistants—are not grading final exams. The union agreed to mediation—which seems unlikely to succeed. Nelson Lichtenstein has our update.

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