Kyrsten Sinema’s bizarre spending indicates possible retirement from Senate: 'It’s just nuts'

01 February 2024

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat turned independent, has yet to say whether or not she will be seeking reelection in Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race. If she does decide to run as an independent, Arizona could see a three-way race between centrist Sinema, liberal Rep. Ruben Gallego (the likely Democratic nominee) and far-right conspiracy theorist Kari Lake (who is seeking the GOP nomination).

But according to Daily Beast reporters Sam Brodey and Roger Sollenberger, Sinema's bizarre spending suggests that she isn't serious about running for a second term.

"Now, as Sinema reportedly considers whether to run for another term in 2024, it's hard to overstate the degree to which she has become a caricature of the type of politician she once bashed," Brodey and Sollenberger explain in an article published on Thursday, February 1. "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported on Sinema's unusual spending of $210,000 in taxpayer funds on private chartered air travel since 2020 — a practice that she herself had tried to ban just six years earlier. But if Sinema pushes the envelope on her use of public funds, her latest campaign finance filings reveal her comfort with spending donor money on just about any perk under the sun — stays at five-star European hotels, luxury vehicles, first-class airfare, and splurges at plush West Coast vineyards."

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The reporters add, "On top of all of that, Sinema's personal security expenses carry a staggering burn rate of more than $100,000 a month, most of it to one person: Tulsi Gabbard's sister."

Sinema, Brodey and Sollenberger note, has until an April 8 deadline to file for reelection.

"The optics of the senator's spending habits, plus the anemic $594,000 she raised in the fourth quarter, suggest a battle against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and GOP candidate Kari Lake could be even tougher for her than anticipated," the reporters observe. "According to Saurav Ghosh, director of campaign finance reform at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, Sinema's 'risk tolerance of pushing right up against the rules is quite high for someone as prominent as she is'…. Sinema's extravagance is all the more remarkable considering how tight her other political spending has been."

Brendan Fischer, the watchdog group Documented's executive director, discussed Sinema's leadership PAC Getting Stuff Done with the Daily Beast. Fischer finds it bizarre that Sinema's PAC only spent $25,000 on other candidates in 2023.

Fischer told the Beast, "That's why leadership PACs supposedly exist, which is to make contributions to other candidates. But she is not making contributions — it's just like a vehicle for Sinema to hold a fundraiser at a five-star resort with corporate lobbyists, and use the proceeds to fund the next fundraiser at a five-star resort. It’s just nuts."

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

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