In late April, the campaign committee of former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema made an odd expenditure, even by contemporary political standards: It dropped $352 at a self-described “naturally based wellness provider” that provides chiropractic, massage and “shockwave therapy” services from a shopping center in Cave Creek, Arizona.
The expenditure at Healthy Images wasn’t for Sinema herself. Rather, it funded “health services” for a member or members of the former senator’s private security detail, which she’s continued to bankroll through her old campaign committee, according to new documents the former Arizona independent senator filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The health service payment is one among hundreds of transactions Sinema’s Senate campaign committee recently made on airplane tickets, meals, lodging and various security detail expenses, according to the FEC filing.
In all, Sinema for Arizona reported spending more than $391,000 between March 31 and June 30, federal records indicate, even though Sinema quit running for public office more than a year ago.
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The spending comes on top of previous Sinema for Arizona expenditures that some detractors have alleged violate a federal law that generally prohibits political candidates from using campaign money for personal expenses. Some political watchdogs said the expenditures are stretching the limits of how former candidates can spend campaign cash — if not violating them.
“It is hard to see how Sinema can credibly argue that luxury hotels, meal expenses, and extensive air travel are connected to her candidacy or officeholder duties, given that she is no longer a candidate or officeholder,” said Brendan Fischer, a lawyer and deputy executive director at Documented, an investigative watchdog organization.
Sinema did not respond to NOTUS’ phone and email messages, nor did the treasurer of the Sinema for Arizona campaign committee.
Sinema’s new spending disclosures include several items from April through June that are decidedly uncommon for a Senate campaign led by someone who’s no longer seeking public office. Among them:
- More than $71,000 on American Airlines tickets and related expenses, such as in-cabin Wi-Fi and airport lounge access.
- $4,662.33 in event tickets for Sinema’s “security detail.” Sinema’s campaign lists Stubhub and several concert venues among payees.
- $1,303.17 at Ed’s Gun Shop in Vess, North Carolina, for “security protective equipment.”
- $616 in Aspen, Colorado, for “security detail ski tickets.”
Sinema — who once moonlighted as the nation’s most powerful winery intern — also spent $572.67 in April at Three Sticks Wines in Sonoma, California, where she conducted her internship. Stated reason: “Meeting expenses.”
Sinema’s other wine-themed campaign expenditures since April include $691.70 for “event supplies” at the Valley Wine Merchant in Newberry, Oregon; $314.93 for “event catering” at Total Wine & More in Phoenix; $245.83 for “donor appreciation supplies” at Total Wine in Bethesda, Maryland, and $195.75 at the Postino Winecafe in Phoenix for “meeting meals.”
The Democrat-turned-independent left the Senate in January and, in March, joined law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells as senior counsel in the global regulatory and intellectual property practice. Representatives at Hogan Lovells did not respond to a request for comment.
By law, former political candidates may continue operating their old political committees for legitimate political purposes, such as seeking office again or paying down lingering campaign debts.
They have several options for surplus campaign cash, including donating it to charity, transferring it to other political committees, disgorging it to the U.S. Treasury or simply sitting on it.
Regarding Sinema’s security expenditures, Fischer acknowledged that security threats against members of Congress are certainly serious and real. But a former senator spending thousands of dollars on event tickets, health treatments and gun-store shopping for her private security details “may be testing the limit” of what’s legal.
“There are serious questions about whether Sinema is using leftover campaign funds for her personal benefit, or to support her work for a private lobbying firm,” Fischer said.
Bawadden Sayed, spokesperson for pro-Democrat political group End Citizens United, said Sinema’s spending crosses the line.
“It’s illegal for Kyrsten Sinema to use campaign money to fund her luxury lifestyle,” Sayed said. “Her filing looks more like an AmEx statement than a campaign expenditure report. Voters didn’t donate money to her so she could ski, dine, and ride in style on their dime. She’s either openly exploiting a broken FEC or believes the rules don’t apply to her.”
Sinema previously received scrutiny for her Senate campaign committee’s spending habits.
Campaign cash helped fuel the then-senator’s marathon-running hobby, as the Daily Beast reported in 2023.
Sinema’s campaign committee also spent cash on Taylor Swift merchandise and Saudi hotel lodging during her final weeks as a senator, NBC News reported last year.
To date, neither Sinema nor her Senate campaign committee has been found in civil or criminal violation of campaign finance laws, although they’ve weathered one investigation and currently face another.
In August 2024, the FEC voted 5-0, with one abstention, to dismiss allegations by the Change for Arizona 2024 PAC that Sinema used political committee funds for personal spending from 2019 through 2022.
Then, in December 2024, nonprofit watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a separate complaint with the FEC. It alleged that Sinema for Arizona violated federal law by using campaign funds to “fund her personal travel, including domestic chartered and international flights as well as meals, catering, and lodging related to trips to Europe, Boston, the California wine country, and several other locations, which appear unrelated to any campaign or official business.”
The bipartisan FEC has not yet ruled on Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s complaint, and it may be many months — or even years — before it does.
That’s because the FEC is in a state of de facto shutdown, as it lacks the minimum number of commissioners — four — to conduct high-level business, such as enforcing election laws, formalizing investigations, finalizing audits or even conducting public meetings.
President Donald Trump alone may nominate new FEC commissioners, and since the FEC lost its commissioner quorum on May 1, Trump has failed to act despite Republicans and Democrats in Congress recommending three candidates, NOTUS reported last week.
The Department of Justice may open criminal inquiries into the political finances of lawmakers and former lawmakers. But such actions are historically rare, and under Trump, the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section has this year largely lost its powers.
As for Sinema’s old Senate campaign committee, it still had plenty of cash to burn: As of June 30, it reported nearly half a million dollars in reserve with no debt.
Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.
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