Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Faces Legal Complaint Over Personal Use of Campaign Funds

WASHINGTON — Today, Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema used her campaign committee, Sinema for Arizona, to illegally spend over $700,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. This is the latest occurrence in a troubling pattern of former lawmakers abusing campaign funds for personal use and is a violation of federal campaign finance law.  

“Federal campaign finance laws are clear that politicians who leave office do not have the green light to use leftover campaign funds however they want,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “Former Senator Sinema appears to have spent an exorbitant amount of campaign money on a personal spending spree during the 12 months after she left office. The FEC must investigate her use of campaign money and hold her accountable for any violations of campaign finance law.”  

The Federal Campaign Election Act (or FECA) prohibits the use of campaign funds — which were originally donated to support official activities by candidates or officeholders — to be used for personal expenses. A former officeholder’s leftover campaign funds have a narrow list of permissible uses, such as winding down an office, contributing to other candidates, or making charitable donations.

Sinema for Arizona had $4.2 million in cash on hand when Sinema left office in January 2025. While $3 million of that was used to start the Spark Center for Innovation Earning at Arizona State University, most of the remaining money appears to have been used to pay for Sinema’s personal expenses. The former senator used her campaign committee to pay for travel, lodging, meals and salaries of former staffers — some of whom were paid by the campaign even after taking private sector jobs. None of these payments, which totaled over $700,000, appear to be connected to her role as a former officeholder or efforts to wind down the committee. 

Since 2018, Campaign Legal Center has been tracking politicians’ use of campaign contributions, oftentimes through leadership PACs, as a slush fund to pay for a wide range of personal indulgences. Campaign Legal Center is now urging the FEC to investigate former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for potential personal use violations. Elected officials and candidates cannot be allowed to ignore the law and exploit their campaigns for their own personal gain. 

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

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