Though former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema isn’t running for public office, she continues to use hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for plane tickets, hotels and meals.
Sinema, the Arizona Democrat-turned-independent first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, chose not to seek-reelection last year, but federal campaign finance reports show she is still spending campaign cash on everything from high-end resorts to wineries since officially leaving the race last March.
Sinema’s latest filing with the Federal Elections Commission shows she spent over $391,000 between March 31 and June 30. Much of that money was spent to cover travel and entertainment expenses for Sinema and her private security team — payments that ethics watchdogs say could violate federal campaign finance law.
In December 2024, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint against Sinema with the FEC, arguing her spending violated federal election law.
“And this spending makes our complaint all the more urgent,” the group wrote on social media following the campaign’s latest disclosure.
According to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization, federal law allows candidates not currently seeking election to hold onto existing campaign money for a future campaign or use it to wind down the existing campaign, refund donors or donate to charity.
According to the latest filing, Sinema donated $206 to the PTO at a middle school in Cameron, North Carolina.
But the law prohibits the personal use of campaign funds, whether or not a candidate is running for office.
“That means it would be illegal for Sen. Sinema to use campaign money to pay for personal travel, meals, events or entertainment,” Saurav Ghosh, CLC’s director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform, told KJZZ last year after filings showed the Sinema campaign spent over $100,000 on trips and meals.
Sinema has continued to make similar expenditures using campaign money since that time.
Much of the spending between March 31 and June 30 — about $104,000— went towards Sinema’s private security team. That includes thousands of dollars spent on hotel rooms and event tickets for security staff and $1,300 spent at Ed’s Gun Shop in Vess, North Carolina.
The latest filing shows the campaign spent over $86,000 on airfare and related expenses. Sinema also used more than $15,000 campaign money to pay for stays at luxury hotels and lodging, including The New York EDITION hotel and the Pier South Resort in Imperial Beach, Calif.
Sinema also spent over $10,000 on meals, hitting a number of local Phoenix haunts like The Vig, O.H.S.O., Chelsea’s Kitchen, The Henry and Postino WineCafe. Most of those meals were categorized as “meeting meal expenses” or “travel meals,” according to the FEC filing.
Sinema, who now works for Washington, D.C., lobbying firm Hogan Lovells, did not respond to a request for comment asking how these expenses related to official campaign activities.
