Sinema’s fundraising plummets as reelection decision deadline nears

Arizona Independent is raising less money each quarter.

Kyrsten Siema (I-Ariz. )’s fundraising fell to its lowest quarterly total this cycle, as she faces an April deadline for filing to run for re-election.

According to a report submitted by her campaign late on Tuesday, the independent Arizona senator only raised $595,000 during the last three months of 2023. This is less than a fifth of what her Democratic opponent, Rep. Ruben Galego, reported his campaign had raised in the same time period. Kari Lake reported raising $2million.

Sinema also spent $749,000 in the same period. Her cash on hand total has dropped slightly but is still impressive. Contribution refunds alone accounted for more than 10%.

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Sinema has yet to decide if she wants to run for reelection in 2018. She left the Democratic Party back in December 2022. She is the most unknown senator, with nearly $11m in her campaign fund. It would be a three-way race if she enters the race.

A spokesperson for her campaign stated that Kyrsten is “laser focused” on her mission to make a meaningful difference in the lives and communities of Arizonans. She does not care about campaign politics. “She has the means to continue delivering results for Arizona.”

The senator, who is in her first term, has spent the last few months negotiating a border agreement. She also spends a lot of time and energy in Washington. Sinema’s fundraising has been declining steadily all year.

In the first quarter of 2023, she reached her highest point when she earned $2.1 million. This fell by 22 percent during the second quarter. Her third-quarter total was just 50 percent of what she had earned in the second quarter. The new filing shows that her totals from the third quarter to the fourth quarter have dropped by 30 percent.

Sinema’s expenses suggest that she was not ineffective when it came to fundraising. The filing shows that the campaign spent over $124,000 in fundraising consulting, event and travel expenses associated with fundraising. She also spent over $141,000 on digital marketing, which is usually used to attract donors. A spokesperson refused to give details about the digital expenditure but said that it was not directly focused on fundraising.

Security-related expenditures were her second major category of spending in the fourth quarter, which included a $100,000 retainer from Kinsaker Security Group, LLC, as well as $77,000 on a vehicle for security.

The Arizona senator’s election campaign spent a very small amount on salaries, paying just $7,700 to four employees. This suggests that Sinema’s campaign hasn’t begun to hire staff like a major Senate election would require.

Arizona’s filing deadline is April 8 and Sinema will need to collect a whopping 40,000 signatures in order to be on the ballot. Sinema didn’t appear to have spent money on gathering signatures or any other ballot access measures.