Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema accused of misusing campaign funds for lavish travel

Bisexual former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent of Arizona, is under fire after a government watchdog group alleged that she used campaign funds for personal travel and luxury expenses in violation of federal law. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in mid-December, accusing Sinema of using contributions to bankroll trips to Europe, Aspen, and California’s wine country after she announced she would not seek reelection.

Related: How Bisexual Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Is Endangering LGBTQ+ Rights

According to the complaint, Sinema’s campaign, Sinema for Arizona, spent more than $100,000 on travel-related expenses between March and September 2024, despite receiving only one unitemized dollar in contributions following her announcement in March. CREW claims the expenditures, including $3,120 for lodging and dining in Italy and $8,000 on a Boston trip tied to the marathon, were not connected to any campaign or Senate business.

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“It’s hard to see how any of this spending was for the benefit of the campaign,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. The complaint details further disbursements, including $15,000 for travel and events in Sonoma, California, and Aspen, Colorado, as well as $81,000 in late-summer expenses spanning France, the U.K., and additional domestic destinations. According to the complaint, these expenditures include catering at Three Sticks Wines, where Sinema once interned, and luxury lodging in Aspen.

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Related: Kyrsten Sinema defends filibuster in farewell address to Senate

The allegations mark a dramatic end to Sinema’s polarizing term in the Senate. After leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, Sinema often aligned with corporate interests, alienating many of her former supporters. Last year, as the race for her Senate seat heated up, a Democrat-aligned group seeking to unseat Sinema filed a comparable complaint. That filing accused her of extravagant spending on luxury hotels, fine dining, and travel stretching from 2019 through 2022. At the time, a spokesperson for Sinema dismissed the allegations as “desperate political attacks,” AZ Central reports.

Sinema officially left office on January 3, when Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, Arizona’s first Latino senator, was sworn in.