Former Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has continued to spend tens of thousands on travel, luxury hotels, meals, and security services from her campaign fund.
The Democrat-turned-independent announced she would not seek reelection to the Senate more than a year ago, but her campaign account has continued to fund hundreds of thousands of dollars in her lifestyle over the past year. In the most recent quarterly filing with the Federal Election Commission, she spent more than $391,000 between March 31 and June 30, 2025, despite not running for office or being an officeholder.
She spent over $71,000 on American Airlines tickets and other flight expenses. One flight cost over $10,000. She is a frequent purchaser of in-flight Wi-Fi.
Sinema additionally spent thousands at luxury hotels. Per the records, she spent over $1,000 at a hotel in the Hamptons and just under $1,000 at a four-star hotel outside San Diego, among other hotels within the United States.
Her campaign account spent thousands on airport parking, Uber, and rental car services.
She has labeled several expensive meals as “meeting expenses,” including $572.67 at Three Sticks Wines in Sonoma, California, and $195.75 at Postino Winecafe in Phoenix for “meeting meals.” She also spent $245.83 for “donor appreciation supplies” at Total Wine in Bethesda, Maryland. She’s also a frequent guest at the Marriott in Bethesda, per multiple quarters of campaign filings.
She also spent a hefty amount on “security detail.” She spent $4,662.33 on event tickets and seemingly treated her security to skiing for $616 in Aspen, Colorado, in an item labeled “security detail ski tickets.”
In her previous quarterly filings after announcing she would not run again, she spent tens of thousands on overseas travel to a five-star hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the St. Regis Aspen Resort in Colorado, the luxury Tokyo Edition Hotel in Japan, and the five-star Nobu Hotel London Portman Square.
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Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, her campaign spent at least $26,000 on overseas expenses, most of which was spent on the undisclosed Saudi Arabia trip, and between July 1 and Sept. 30 of last year, her campaign spent more than $216,000 on travel.
After leaving office earlier this year, she moved to the private sector, joining crypto exchange Coinbase’s Global Advisory and the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) won Sinema’s Senate seat in the 2024 election.
