Kyrsten Sinema’s private flights are costing a fortune

29 January 2024

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat turned independent, has yet to say whether or not she will seek reelection in Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race. But if she runs, Arizona could see a three-way election between centrist Sinema, liberal Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and far-right conspiracy theorist Kari Lake (who is seeking the GOP nomination).

Liberals and progressives in Arizona will be rooting for Gallego if he is the Democratic nominee. But Sinema has her share of supporters among moderates, independents and non-MAGA conservatives.

If Sinema enters the race, her spending policies will receive a great deal of scrutiny — including perhaps her taxpayer-funded use of private jets.

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In an article published on January 29, the Daily Beast's Sam Brodey reports, "It's hardly a secret that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) likes to fly private. It was just last April when it came out that Sinema's campaign had spent nearly $70,000 on charter flights over the last four years. What hasn't been reported, however, is Sinema's penchant for using a very different source of funding to fly private: taxpayers."

According to Brodey, public records show that since 2020, Sinema "has spent roughly $210,000 of her U.S. Senate office budget on private charter flights for herself and her staff."

"Given that senators have limited annual budgets to fund their operations," Brodey explains. "Sinema's use of private flights also raises questions about why she is prioritizing that expense over other essential functions of her office. The Arizona senator has booked at least 11 private plane trips since 2020, with five of them coming in 2023, when she spent $116,000 on chartered air travel."

Brodey continues, "According to the reports, nearly all of the flights were charted for travel within Arizona, as the senator and several of her staffers hit several cities and towns around the state on one- or two-day trips. By comparison, Sinema's home-state colleague, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), appears to have never used his Senate budget for privately chartered flights, even though he regularly travels to the same places in the state that Sinema does."

The Daily Beast reporter points out that although flying privately instead of using commercial airlines isn't a rules violation for U.S. senators, there are reasons why it can be "problematic."

"For one, senators' budgets are limited, and flying private is incredibly expensive," Brodey notes. "In 2023, Sinema's annual budget authorization was $4.1 million — a sum that has to cover every expense of her office, including the salaries of her staff, her weekly travel between Arizona and Washington, office supplies, and everything in between…. The amount that Sinema spent on private planes in 2023 alone is greater than the current annual salaries of all but just a few of her most senior staffers, according to the congressional database Legistorm."

Read The Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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