In the final months before Democratic-turned-independent former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema retired from her post, her campaign organization spent big in the desert — not just the desert of Arizona, the state she represented in Congress for more than a decade, but in Saudi Arabia.
Of the almost $700,000 Sinema’s campaign reported spending in the final three months of 2024, about one-tenth was spent on “lodging,” including more than $20,000 at the swanky Le Méridien in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Another $756 went to a limited liability company linked to Marriott operating in the country, according to her campaign finance filing. The filing shows Sinema’s campaign spent another $4,000 on car services to two foreign companies, one in London and one in Paris, although it’s unclear where the services were incurred.
Sinema’s campaign also spent almost $19,000 at The Edition Hotel in New York City mostly around Election Day, per the filing, as well as thousands more at other luxury hotels in the mountain resort towns of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Park City, Utah; the St. Regis in San Francisco; The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas; and a Ritz-Carlton without a location specified.
Her campaign filing also showed more than $15,000 spent on airfare over that time period, though the finance disclosures don’t provide more information about the destinations. It’s unclear whether Sinema took the trips associated with the spending or if someone else in her political operation did.
The hotel and airline payments weren’t Sinema’s largest expenditure category: That was security spending, during a time where politicians have faced a steady stream of threats. New data released Monday from Capitol Police found an increase in statements and threats against members of Congress and their families over the last year, and Sinema’s committee reported spending about $140,000 on security services (including travel), all paid to a security firm based out of Sinema’s Arizona. She spent another $81,000 on travel expense reimbursements to the same firm.
The hotel and airline payments stand out because no other senator who retired at the end of 2024 spent nearly as much as Sinema did in the final three months of last year. Former Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., spent about $210,000 over the same period — but most of that ($150,000) was in transfers to the Senate Democratic campaign arm and in membership fees to the U.S. Former Members of Congress Association ($25,000).
Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the Democrat who resigned last summer after his corruption and bribery conviction, spent more than Sinema over the final three months of 2024, almost $800,000. The vast majority of that, $650,000, was on “legal services.”
Sinema has attracted criticism and scrutiny for her campaign spending in the past, including for other foreign travel, which does appear occasionally in federal campaign finance filings but is relatively rare.
The Federal Election Commission says that campaign funds “may be used to pay ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with one’s duties as a federal officeholder” while winding down a committee around leaving office. Retiring politicians can also donate their campaign cash to other political organization or nonprofits.
But politicians cannot use campaign funds for personal use, which the FEC defines as “if the expense would exist even in the absence of the candidacy or even if the officeholder were not in office.”
Sinema’s campaign also incurred expenses related to ending her time in Washington, including closing down her offices and refunding some contributions. She ended the year with almost $4.3 million remaining in her campaign bank account.
A request to reach Sinema’s campaign at the email address listed on its FEC reports was unsuccessful. Two former Sinema staffers contacted by NBC News did not return a request for comment, and Sinema’s personal website has been taken offline.
Her campaign raised just $2.52 over the final three months of 2024 — a tax credit sent over by the online payroll and Human Resources platform Gusto. Even so, the filing shows she spent big on payments for fundraising and event consulting — including about $100,000 to a firm run in part by one of her top fundraisers. (It is possible those payments were for services incurred before the filing period.)
The Sinema campaign spent another $11,000 on meals related to meetings, including at a handful of well-known Washington, D.C., eateries, per the filing. One $2,000 payment went to The Salt Line, a popular seafood restaurant near the D.C. waterfront. Another $15,000 went to event catering, including almost $800 at an Arizona winery where Sinema previously interned.
The campaign also spent about $10,000 on car services (including $2,700 to Uber), more than $6,000 on automobile insurance, and $1,600 at singer Taylor Swift’s official gift store for “event gifts.”
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