Kyrsten Sinema is no stranger to the running scene; the independent senator from Arizona is a consummate endurance athlete. She ran the Boston Marathon in April, finishing in 3:57:27 and ran a personal record in the event at the 2020 Phoenix Marathon in 3:21:45. The 46-year-old has completed numerous IRONMANs—where she was among the top 5 percent in her age group in 2018—and holds the course record among congresswomen at the annual Capital Challenge, a three-mile race in Washington, D.C. for government officials and members of the media.
However, in a recent investigation by The Daily Beast, Sinema’s running and political life have overlapped in a potentially ethically ambiguous way. The outlet alleges that Sinema has used campaign funds to help finance her race expenses over the years.
At the 2022 Boston Marathon, Sinema’s campaign provided $8,470 for a stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which according to a tweet, appears to be the hotel that Sinema stayed at for the race. Her political action committee also spent more than $1,500 on meals and “event supplies” in the Boston area during race week, and she raised over $16,000 for her campaign from donors in Massachusetts that month, “suggesting she held some type of fundraiser, if a small one,” says The Daily Beast.
Boston was not an isolated incident. The Daily Beast reported that since 2019, Sinema’s races have coincided with fundraisers six times, including the Mountains2Beach Marathon in California, Light at The End of the Tunnel Marathon in Washington, and the 2021 Boston Marathon. Expenses, such as lodging and meals, were often covered by her campaign.
According to federal law, a donation is considered to be used for personal gain if the “contribution or amount is used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign or individual’s duties as a holder of Federal office including ... a vacation or other noncampaign-related trip.”
Sinema’s spending, however, might not necessarily fall under this category. Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance expert, told The Daily Beast that Sinema’s spending may be legal but unconventional. “Tacking some personal activities on to a fundraising trip is generally going to be fine,” he said. “But this appears to be the inverse—tacking fundraisers on to personal trips to justify the use of campaign funds to cover the costs.”
“The Federal Election Commission (FEC) generally isn’t going to scrutinize this kind of spending,” he continued. “But at the same time, I doubt any FEC commissioners would declare that a candidate may travel anywhere they want using donor funds, as long as they ask another donor for more money while there.”
A 2022 report by The Daily Beast revealed, according to a leaked memo from her office, that Sinema’s staffers were expected to accommodate her training habits, including booking her weekly massages, always having “room temperature” water near her, and scheduling work responsibilities around her training sessions.
At the time of publication, Sinema's office did not return phone calls to Runner's World.
This story will be updated.
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
