Image Credit: Greg Nash - The Hill

2024 Election

Kyrsten Sinema Busted: Used More Than $100K in Campaign Funds on Private Jets, Limos, and Luxury Hotels

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Az.) campaign coffers are overflowing with cash — and she sure knows how to spend it — on luxury hotels, private jets, limousines, and pricey wines — to the tune of more than $100,000.

And yes, some of her donors are miffed, The New York Post reports.

According to On The Money, since 2021, Sinema has blown nearly $20,000 worth of campaign donations on fancy wines alone — showering thousands of dollars on ritzy West Coast vineyards, including Promontory Winery in Napa Valley, Auteur Winery in Sonoma, and Argyle Winery in the Willamette Valley, according to election filings.

But that’s not all. Right around the same time, Sinema spent nearly $10,000 in campaign donations at cushy restaurants like the Russian Tea Room in New York City and Sketch in London’s Mayfair neighborhood. She’s also dined at restaurants in Barcelona, Paris, and Miami.

Clearly, I’m in the wrong job.

She also had a bit of fun at San Diego’s Civico 1845, where she blew $600 in campaign funds and tagged her partner Lindsey Buckman in an Instagram post in February and June of last year, according to filings.

Then there’s all that driving around. Chauffers are undoubtedly one of her biggest campaign expenses. Since 2019, she’s forked over $45,000 in campaign donations on chauffeurs. One just one day alone, during a trip to New York City, she paid a luxury car service $4,000, a nice chunk of campaign change.

And now, Democratic donors are angry and demanding their money back. But they are being ignored, neither Sinema nor her staff is responding, one source said.

This kind of spending is outlandish, to say the least. Even by Capitol Hill standards, Thomas Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation told On The Money.

“This appears to be an outlier,” he said. “There’s a decent number of fundraiser-type events at nice restaurants and steak houses but Sinema’s spending appears outside the norm. Donors generally want candidates spending their money on the winning their races — not on expensive meals and fancy destinations.”

As I said, I chose the wrong career.

She also has a predilection for expensive air travel.

“Between 2020 and December, she spent $67, 436 in taxpayer funds for jet charters according to an analysis of congressional spending records by Newsweek, which said Sinema ‘ranked near the top spenders on charter flights in the Senate,” On The Money reports.

But she’s also done other things such as taking personal trips and tacking on a meeting or two as an excuse to be spendy. She’s blown $35,000 in campaign funds for staying at luxury resorts from California to the Cote D’Azur.

And when it was time for the Boston Marathon last April, Sinema stayed in the Ritz Carlson, added a donor meeting, and charged $8,400 to her campaign (of course), one source told On The Money. The Senator ran the marathon again this year but it’s not clear where she stayed or who paid for it.

Sinema definitely knows how to curry those donations. She has a trick or two up her sleeve.

Last August, she scuppered a challenge to the “carried-interest” loophole that taxes private equity and hedge fund profits at lower rates than other businesses. This only benefits a handful of private-equity and hedge fund titans that are primarily based in New York and Los Angeles — not Arizona which Sinema is supposed to represent.

“It’s pretty simple: Kyrsten Sinema delivered an $18 billion gift to private equite executives and now they’re paying her back with campaign donations,” said Sacha Haworth, a former Sinema staffer told On The Money.

In this year’s first quarter, almost half of Sinema’s donations came from donors connected to three major private equity firms, a Federal Elections Committee filing reports. Employees and executives from such firms as The Carlyle Group, Blackstone, and KKR contributed a whopping 45 percent of the $2.1 million Sinema hauled in during the first three months of 2023.

Sinema has pulled plenty of financial shenanigans, but nowhere is that clearer than when she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent last December. This meant she lost the fundraising apparatus associated with the Democratic Party. It’s really not surprising her former benefactors from the Democratic Party want their money back. However, when she decided to turn Independent, many insiders thought perhaps she had the confidence to raise enough money on her own, even though she hasn’t announced her 2024 intentions.

She’s scratched up an $8 million war chest, but she’ll need more if she does decide to run in 2024.

“Sinema hasn’t held a town hall in years, her constituents can’t get a hold of her, and she spends all of her time meeting with lobbyists,” Haworth adds. “So it’s no wonder she’s polling in last place in a three-way race.”

Others, like Jones, wonder if Sinema even plans to run.

“If I was concerned about a competitive race, opulent spending doesn’t seem the wisest decision,” Jones said.

Let’s hope her love of money helps her lose. I don’t know how anyone can be this grabby without feeling at least a little bit bad about it. This is likely to trip her up someday. It might as well be in 2024.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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