Arizona Sen. Sinema used campaign donations to help pay for her marathon races

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema used campaign money to help cover expenses for her to compete in marathon races at least a half-dozen times since 2019, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings.

The FEC filings were reviewed by The Daily Beast and detailed in a story published Sunday by the media website. 

The senator, who has a law degree and who last December changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, appeared to justify the spending as a qualified campaign expenditure because she held meetings or campaign fundraisers in the areas in which the events were held.

Sinema – known for her dedication to training and competing in endurance sports – ran the Boston Marathon in 2022. That month, her campaign raised over $16,000 in donations from several Massachusetts-based donors, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The donations suggest Sinema "held some type of fundraiser" while she was there for the marathon, according to the Daily Beast. 

Additionally, Getting Stuff Done PAC, Sinema's political action committee, spent over $1,500 on "event supplies" and "meeting meals" in Massachusetts during the week of the marathon, records show.

Her campaign also paid $8,470 to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel chain in April 2022 for lodging expenses. At the time, Sinema posted photos on Twitter of herself and her friend in a hotel room posing with gift bags and certificates bearing the Ritz-Carlton name and logo.

Finance records show that Sinema raised money from donors in the state while also spending money on lodging around the time she participated in races in May 2019, during the Mountains2Beach Marathon in Ventura County, California, and in June 2021, during the Light at The End of the Tunnel Marathon in the Seattle-area.

Sinema's spokesperson did not respond to questions from The Daily Beast.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.