Kyrsten Sinema has become one of the most powerful members in the narrowly divided U.S. Senate and blocked several of the most significant and popular elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The Intercept’s reporting shows that she’s also been a major recipient of campaign contributions from the industries that have benefited from her votes.
Now Sinema is preparing to run for reelection next year as an independent — potentially splitting the vote and tipping an otherwise Democratic seat to the Republicans.
At this pivotal moment, it’s critical that voters learn the truth about why and how Sinema is serving her campaign donors instead of her constituents.
If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Sinema has taken campaign contributions from a wide range of corporate interests — and she’s rewarded her donors handsomely.
After taking more than $150,000 from the airline industry, she authored an amendment to slash the number of required in-flight training hours for pilots. Sinema’s amendment is being opposed by pilot and flight attendant unions. The pilots said her amendment would create an “unacceptable risk to our air transportation system.”
Another of Sinema’s major benefactors has been the cryptocurrency industry. In the last three years, the senator has taken in almost a half a million dollars from crypto businesses and investors. At the same time, she dropped her support for regulations opposed by crypto giants.
Among Sinema’s most politically baffling moves was her staunch support for the wildly unpopular carried interest loophole, which allows hedge fund managers who make millions of dollars a year to pay much lower income taxes than everyone else. Her support for this indefensible giveaway single-handedly blocked significant elements of Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Meanwhile, she pocketed tens of thousands of dollars in maxed-out donations from private equity partners.
The list goes on and on. She took money from the pharmaceutical industry while refusing to support measures to lower drug prices. Payday lenders have given her more money than any other senator, while she championed their interests. She took cash from the telecommunications industry while opposing net neutrality.
Not coincidentally, Sinema faces a dour approval rating in her home state. After leaving the Democratic Party, she now faces a three-way reelection campaign against both the eventual Republican nominee and the likely Democratic nominee, Rep. Ruben Gallego.
While she will have no shortage of corporate money to spend on TV ads attacking her opponents and white-washing her own image, The Intercept is committed to continuing our ongoing reporting on how her votes have benefited her campaign contributors at the expense of her constituents.
