The year-end numbers for 2022 hint at the contrasting fundraising styles for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (right) and Rep. Ruben Gallego.
By Ronald J. Hansen || The Arizona Republic
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Rep. Ruben Gallego have different leadership styles. Which will appeal to voters?
In the last months of 2022, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s campaign added to her sizable cash advantage over rival Rep. Ruben Gallego’s, but his operation outraised hers in the days after she announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent.
Campaign finance reports that run through the end of 2022 offer an early glimpse of the contrasting styles that could define their campaigns if Sinema, I-Ariz., runs for a second Senate term next year.
Gallego, D-Ariz., announced Jan. 23 he is running in 2024 for the Senate seat she holds. Sinema has filed preliminary paperwork for another run, but has not officially said she is doing so. Several Republicans are considering a run as well, but no high-profile candidates have stepped forward.
Sinema’s campaign ended 2022 with $8.2 million in cash. Gallego’s campaign finished with $1.3 million.
Sinema’s campaign declined to comment about the latest reports. Gallego’s noted that he raised more than $1 million in the first day after entering the Senate race and attacked Sinema as beholden to hedge-fund managers.
“Ruben Gallego has raised seven times more from Arizonans in the last week than Kyrsten Sinema did in the entire last quarter,” said Rebecca Katz, a consultant to his campaign. “These numbers make their priorities crystal clear. Ruben Gallego believes in making life easier for Arizonans and their families. Kyrsten Sinema believes in making life easier for hedge fund managers.”
Katz alluded to Sinema holding out last year to preserve special tax treatment for money managers that saved them $14 billion in potentially higher taxes as part of a $700 billion domestic spending bill that focused heavily on climate change provisions.
