Sinema’s fundraising continues to lag in contested Arizona Senate race

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Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) raised over three times as much money as Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-Ariz.) last quarter in his bid to unseat the incumbent senator. He has inched closer to matching Sinema’s war chest each quarter since announcing his candidacy for Arizona’s Senate seat in January.

Sinema has yet to publicly announce her intent to run for reelection, but the former Democrat’s team has signaled that she is gearing up to run as an independent.

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Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Lamb have also declared their candidacies. Lake, who unsuccessfully ran to be Arizona’s governor in 2022, is predicted to be the nominee by a recent GOP poll. Rumors swirled around Republican Blake Masters’ potential run earlier this year, but the venture capitalist, who lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022, has decided to instead run for the U.S. House.

The likely three-way race between Sinema, Gallego and Lake appears to be favoring Gallego. Recent polls show him ahead in most matchups, with Sinema in a distant third. The Cook Political Report ranks the race a toss up.

Gallego, a five-term congressman, has been outraising Sinema all year and continued that trend last quarter, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of campaign finance reports.

Sinema raised $826,000 from July through September, half of what she raised from April through June. She spent most of it, keeping her cash on hand around $10.8 million dollars.

Gallego raised $3.1 million last quarter and spent $1.8 million. His campaign had $1.3 million at the beginning of the year and now has over $5 million.

Credit: OpenSecrets

Lamb ended September with $307,000. Lake launched her campaign after the third quarter ended, so details about her finances will first become available after the end of the fourth quarter early next year.

While Gallego received more money from individual donors, Sinema raised the most from political action committees from July through September. Most of the $175,000 in PAC money Sinema raised came from 55 groups affiliated with companies and interest groups. Sinema also received $10,000 from Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.V.) leadership PAC, Country Roads PAC.

Gallego brought in $76,000 from PACs last quarter. About a third of it came from fellow Democrats through leadership PACs, local campaign committees and the Arizona Democratic Party. Most of the rest came from left-leaning interest groups and PACs affiliated with unions.

Indivisible Action, a liberal hybrid PAC, independently spent $13,700 opposing Sinema with digital ads and text messages.

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Half of Gallego’s funds last quarter came from small donors who contributed $200 or less. Small donors made up less than 2% of Sinema’s funds during the same period.

The Sinema Leadership Fund, a joint fundraising committee that splits contributions between Sinema’s campaign committee and leadership PAC, solicits funds through the donation processor Democracy Engine. Despite the lack of an official announcement from Sinema, the group’s donation page explicitly asks for donations to “support the re-election of U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.” The joint fundraising committee directed $365,000 to Sinema’s campaign committee from July through September.

Sinema spent $263,000 on digital advertising last quarter. Gallego spent more than double on digital ad buys during the same period.

Lamb spent $15,000 on digital advertising and $12,800 on campaign attire. The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to Lamb following his third quarter report, asking him to clarify the clothing expenses and to ensure they do not constitute a personal expense, which campaign committees cannot pay for. Lamb’s response is due Nov. 24.

Sinema also received a letter from the FEC following her third quarter report, noting that over two dozen contributors gave more to the campaign than the maximum allowed by law. The funds must be reattributed to a different candidate or redesignated for a different election within two months. A response to the FEC is due Nov. 29.

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