Campaign Legal Center Files FEC Complaint Against Sinema Over $700K in Spending After Leaving Office

A watchdog group with a history of Democratic campaign donations has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) spent more than $700,000 in leftover campaign funds on personal expenses after leaving office.  

On Feb. 19, 2026, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC asserting that Sinema’s committee, Sinema for Arizona, violated federal campaign finance law by using campaign funds for travel, lodging, meals, and staff salaries unrelated to political activity or winding down the campaign. 

The complaint, a copy of which was reviewed via DocumentCloud, outlines expenditures totaling more than $700,000 made after Sinema left the Senate in January 2025. It alleges payments for airfare, upscale hotel stays, dining, car service, event tickets, and staff salaries that do not appear to be connected to permissible campaign uses after departing office. 

The alleged expenditures include:

• Over $230,000 on travel, including stays at luxury hotels in London, Berlin, Jackson Hole, and the Hamptons, plus Uber rides.
• Nearly $20,000 on meals, including a $1,300 dinner at the Michelin-starred Hide restaurant in London
• More than half of the alleged improper spending on salaries for six staffers, some of whom held other employment
  • $151,000 to Daniel Winkler, Sinema’s former senior adviser, who joined her at lobbying firm Hogan Lovells in March 2025.
  • $85,000 to Michelle Davidson, former deputy chief of staff, who served as executive director of the Spark Center at ASU while receiving the payments
  • Nearly $109,000 to Matthew Ammel for security services, according to the complaint
• $34,000 on office supplies
• $8,000 on Apple products

Federal campaign finance law prohibits converting campaign funds to personal use. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, funds raised to support a candidate may be used after leaving office for winding down the campaign, transferring to other candidates, refunding donors or charitable contributions, but not for personal benefit. 

In a written statement accompanying the Campaign Legal Center press release, Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the group, said:

“Former Senator Sinema appears to have spent an exorbitant amount of campaign money on a personal spending spree during the 12 months after she left office. The FEC must investigate her use of campaign money and hold her accountable for any violations of campaign finance law.” 

He observed, “Federal campaign finance laws are clear that politicians who leave office do not have the green light to use leftover campaign funds however they want.”

According to the complaint, Sinema for Arizona had approximately $4.2 million in cash on hand when Sinema left the Senate in January 2025. The complaint says roughly $3 million of that total was used to help launch the Spark Center for Innovation in Learning at Arizona State University, while the remaining funds were spent on the personal expenses in question. 

According to OpenSecrets.org, the Campaign Legal Center made $2,949 in individual contributions during the 2024 cycle, or 67.25% of its 2024 individual contributions to Democratic candidates.

Previous FEC Complaint Filed by CREW

This is not the first ethics complaint involving Sinema’s use of campaign cash. In December 2024, the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a separate FEC complaint alleging that Sinema used campaign funds on personal travel and expenses after announcing she would not seek reelection. CREW’s complaint cited hotel and meal expenses during trips to Europe and California wine country that CREW said did not appear tied to campaign or official duties. 

CREW’s complaint noted that, following Sinema’s March 5, 2024 announcement that she would not seek another term, her campaign reported only one unitemized dollar in new contributions but still disbursed funds for travel and related expenses that the group said were not connected to campaign activities. 

CREW’s president, Noah Bookbinder, said in a statement at the time: “The rule of thumb is that any dollar your campaign spends has to be for the campaign — it can’t just be for your own personal benefit.” He added, “It’s hard to see how any of this spending was for the benefit of the campaign.”

Sinema has not publicly responded to either complaint as of publication. The FEC has not announced any formal investigation or enforcement action related to the complaints.

Sinema served in the U.S. Senate from 2019 to 2025. After leaving office, she joined the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells as a senior adviser and subsequently took positions with the AI Infrastructure Coalition and Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council.