Corporate PACs Still Giving Undeclared Senate Candidate Kyrsten Sinema Money For Wine Weekends, Luxury Hotels

Real people, though, still prefer Ruben Gallego.

Remember a few months ago, when actual Democrat and normal human Ruben Gallego out-raised incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of the Sinema Party? Well, the Congress member who actually represents Arizona has done it again.

July is when candidates reveal their second quarter fundraising totals, and for some campaigns, it’s like getting undressed in the locker room before first period gym. According to Politico, Gallego, who launched his Senate campaign in January, raised $3.1 million from April 1 — also known as Sinema Supporters Day — and June 30. Sinema, Arizona’s literal sitting senior senator, brought in just $1.7 million from the same period. That’s also a noticeable drop from her first quarter total of $2.1 million.

---

PREVIOUSLY:

Kyrsten Sinema's Rock Star Campaign Spending Possibly Less Ethical Than Clarence Thomas On Random Tuesday

Can Poor, Sucky Sinema Make Ends Meet With Spare Millions From GOP Donors/PACs?

Kyrsten Sinema May Talk Like A Jerk, Act Like A Jerk But Don’t Be Fooled, She Really Is A Jerk

Kyrsten Sinema Working Hard To Finish Fourth In Three-Way Senate Race 

Kyrsten Sinema: Why Does Every Democrat I Betray Betray Me? 

---

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin doesn’t even have a Republican opponent yet because they’re all scared, and she raised $3.2 million during the second quarter. It pays not to screw over your constituents and outright suck. You’ll notice that Baldwin hasn’t given interviews to the New York Times and the Atlantic where she boasts about what an asshole she is.

There’s legitimate concern that if Sinema runs for re-election, she’ll only serve as a spoiler candidate who’ll deliver election-denying MAGA loon Kari Lake to the Senate. If it’s any consolation, though, Sinema seems to have spoiled her own candidacy long ago. Less than $9,000 of her $1.7 million, The Flash opening weekend-level second quarter total, came from individuals contributing less than $200. We repeat: She’s a sitting US senator and her constituents aren’t opening their wallets for her.

---

---

Arizonans probably don’t want to continue funding Sinema’s shamelessly extravagant lifestyle. New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan revealed back in April that over the past two years, Sinema spent almost $20,000 worth of campaign donations on “wine-related expenses” and dropped another “$10,000 in campaign funds at posh restaurants like the Russian Tea Room in New York City and Sketch in London’s Mayfair neighborhood, as well as restaurants in Barcelona, Paris and Miami."

The feckless senator is apparently still spending thousands on luxury hotels. So it’s appropriate that corporate PACs remain her most reliable donors. This includes a contribution from the FOX Corporation PAC. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. She’ll probably wind up working for Fox News eventually, but she might find it too much like work.

More alarming and damning to her personally is that she’s yet to receive a damn red cent from the campaign accounts of her fellow senators — neither from the Democrats she snubbed nor her Republican besties who will point and laugh while helping Kari Lake flip her seat.

Sinema does have more cash on hand ($10 million) than Gallego, who is spending more than $2 million each quarter. Sinema spent less than $850,000 last quarter, but it was also a bad period for wine. It’s reasonable that he’d have to spend more than Sinema to build name recognition.

I have heard from folks in the know that Sinema’s transferred money from her leadership PAC to her primary campaign committee, which is weird because she won’t technically run in a primary, seeing as how she renounced the Democratic Party. She moved over $1 million in the first quarter and $730,000 in the second. That has the benefit of padding her public numbers. It’s a neat trick: Her big-money donors are able to max out to two separate entities and she moves the cash around. However, the reality is that her actual pool of donors is shrinking even if her numbers seem to grow.

Although Sinema hasn’t officially declared that she’s running for re-election, her Producers-style fundraising still works for now because she’s still a relatively powerful force in the Senate for the next year and a half. She probably doesn’t care if she sabotages Democrats’ chances in 2024 as long as she can live in style until the very end.

OPEN THREAD. Comment below, or hit the chat tab at the top of the homepage if you need your cat pix fix.

[Politico]

Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.

Subscribe to his Substack.

Catch SER on his podcast, The Play Typer Guy.