Kyrsten Sinema’s fundraising slows as she weighs re-election bid
Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s fundraising has slowed as she weighs running for re-election in Arizona, according to a new campaign finance report filed late Tuesday.
Sinema, who is in her first term, raised just $595,000 in the last three months of the year, a notable drop from the third fundraising quarter, when she pulled in $826,000.
Sinema’s campaign fundraising dropped each quarter in 2023. But she still has millions to spend on a potential re-election bid, having ended December with $10.6 million in her campaign account — a potential boon against competitors who raised significantly more money in the fourth quarter but did not start the campaign with the same cash reserves as Sinema.
Sinema does have time to make her decision — Arizona’s filing deadline is not until April. But her opponents are already filling up their campaign coffers.
Although they have yet to file their fundraising reports, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego’s campaign announced this month that he raised $3.3 million in the most recent fundraising quarter, and Republican Kari Lake announced she raised $2.1 million, Politico reported.
Just around half of Sinema’s fourth-quarter haul came from individual donors. The rest came from PACs and other fundraising committees.
The dormant Senate campaign committee for former Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and his affiliated PAC transferred a combined $9,000 to Sinema. And her filing did include at least one show of support from a current Senate colleague: A New Direction, a leadership PAC affiliated with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., contributed $5,000.
Sinema spent almost $800,000 in the final three months of 2023. Security expenses made up a significant chunk of her spending, including about $185,000 in security-related line items, as well an additional $77,000 for a security vehicle at a Scottsdale Chevrolet dealership.
Sinema also spent $140,000 on digital advertising and a retainer for a digital ad company, almost $36,000 on lodging and $19,000 on airfare.