Sinykin joined Midwest Environmental Advocates in 2003, using her legal background to lobby the state legislature on environmental issues and water law. A few years later, she was asked to represent Wisconsin Groundwater Advisory Committee and the Wisconsin Legislative Council's Special Committee on the Great Lakes Compact in the efforts to negotiate and ratify the
Great Lakes Compact. After a defeat at the
Wisconsin Court of Appeals, she turned to lobbying efforts and played an important role in winning passage of Wisconsin's
puppy mill legislation, which dealt with some of the same issues. Sinykin made her first bid for elected office in 2023, following the early resignation of state senator
Alberta Darling. Darling's resignation from the
8th Senate district left Republicans one seat short of a
supermajority in the upper chamber of the Wisconsin Legislature and necessitated a Spring special election. At the time, the 8th Senate district stretched from Sinykin's home region in Milwaukee's northern suburbs, into the southern half of Ozaukee County, to much of southern Washington County and part of northeast Waukesha County. The district contained a large volume of traditionally Republican suburbs which had been trending toward Democrats since the election of
Donald Trump in 2016. Sinykin faced no opponent in the Democratic primary. In the special election, she faced Republican state representative
Dan Knodl of
Germantown, Wisconsin. Sinykin based much of her campaign messaging on defending abortion rights in Wisconsin following the
U.S. Supreme Court's ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' decision enabling unlimited state restriction on abortion access. After a brief but hard-fought race, Knodl prevailed by just 1.7% of the vote. Although Sinykin lost the election, on the same day the
election of Judge
Janet Protasiewicz to the
Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped the ideological balance of that court and allowed the liberals on the court, later that year, to strike down the decade-old Republican legislative gerrymander. After the Wisconsin Supreme Court's redistricting decision, Republicans in the legislature opted to accept a remedial plan proposed by Democratic governor
Tony Evers, which was enacted in February 2024. Under the new plan, the 8th Senate district was slightly adjusted, removing some areas of Washington and Waukesha counties and adding more of Ozaukee, including Democratic-tilting Port Washington. The new map also drew Dan Knodl into an incumbent vs incumbent matchup against fellow Republican senator
Duey Stroebel. Although the new 8th district mostly contained territory and population that had been part of Knodl's former district, he declined to run against Stroebel, who had served in the legislature since 2011. Sinykin announced she would run for Senate again under the new maps. Again, she faced no Democratic opposition. Again, the 8th district drew significant attention from both parties and became the most competitive Senate election in the state. Sinykin ultimately prevailed by just 1.4% of the vote. She took office on January 6, 2025. ==Personal life and family==