Former U.S. senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is accused of having an affair with a former member of her Senate security detail, Matthew Ammel, according to a lawsuit filed late last year in state court by Ammel’s ex-wife, Heather Ammel.
In the complaint, Heather Ammel alleges Sinema broke up her marriage by “willfully and intentionally” seducing her husband despite knowing he was married with three children. Heather Ammel is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from Sinema for “severe emotional pain,” among other things.
A lawyer and representatives for Sinema did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Sinema requested the case be moved to federal court on Tuesday.
The lawsuit claims that Sinema, a Democrat turned independent, began romantically pursuing Matthew Ammel after he began working for her in April 2022 as a bodyguard during her time in the Senate. Sinema is accused of sending “romantic and lascivious” messages to Ammel on the encrypted app Signal, including texting a photo of herself wrapped in a towel and engaging in a discussion of missionary-style sex.
The two traded other texts that “exceeded the bounds of a normal working relationship,” according to the lawsuit: Sinema allegedly offered to help Ammel — an Army veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder — with his mental health challenges, and once suggested he bring MDMA drugs on a work trip so that she could “guide him through a psychedelic experience.”
Ammel accompanied Sinema on several work trips to provide security, including to Napa Valley, a U2 concert in Las Vegas, and a March 2024 music festival in Arizona where Sinema was “handsy” with him, according to the lawsuit. After that, the two traveled to San Francisco for a work trip, where “they stayed together for hours” in a hotel room; the two would stay together alone several more times on various trips in the coming months, the lawsuit alleges.
Heather Ammel claims that, in 2024, she discovered more inappropriate messages between her then-husband and Sinema, and confronted him. At this point, Sinema had offered Matthew Ammel a salaried position as a defense and national security fellow on her Senate staff. According to the complaint, Matthew Ammel “struggled to admit to [his wife] he was having an affair” but was vocal about divorcing her. The two separated in November 2024.
The House passed a resolution in 2018 that banned members of Congress from having sexual relationships with their employees or with employees of any committee on which a lawmaker serves. However, the Senate did not pass that resolution, and senators are not subject to those same restrictions. Matthew Ammel appears to have been paid, at least in part, from Sinema’s campaign account from mid-2024 to late 2025.
Sinema, 49, was elected to the Senate in 2018 as a Democrat, but clashed frequently with her party and became an independent in 2022. She served one term in office. While in office, Sinema faced questions over reportedly asking her staff to run personal errands, which would have violated Senate ethics rules.
Sinema now works for the Washington-based lobbying firm Hogan Lovells, where she has lobbied for data centers and for the psychoactive drug ibogaine to treat traumatic brain injury.
Sinema, who does not speak to the press often, granted an interview to the Phoenix New Times in March touting the “literally lifesaving” benefits of ibogaine — and citing Ammel as someone the drug had changed.
“I saw the difference it was making in his life, his thinking and his behavior,” Sinema told the New Times.
Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
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