Kyrsten Sinema Is Raking It In From Private Equity Donors

KKR, Blackstone, and The Carlyle Group employees made up nearly half of the senator’s joint fundraising committee haul in the first three months of the year.

by Donald Shaw, Sludge

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema drew a line in the sand last year when she was a crucial vote for the Senate Democrats who wanted to pass their signature budget bill the Inflation Reduction Act. The Democrats had wanted to make it harder for investment industry executives to pay reduced tax rates by lengthening the amount of time they would be required to hold their investments, from three years to five years, to qualify for the break. But Sinema demanded the provision be cut from the bill in exchange for her vote.

“Senator Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said last August. “So we had no choice.”

Sinema has since left the Democratic Party and has reportedly insulted its members in comments to Republican lobbyists, and the party has embraced a Democrat, Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running to take over her Senate seat in 2025. But Sinema’s investment industry donors are sticking by her, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing.

Executives and employees with the private equity firm The Carlyle Group donated $253,600 to Sinema in the first quarter of the year, while people affiliated with Blackstone gave her $274,500 and those affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) gave her $103,700. The donations from employees and executives of those three investment firms made up more than 45% of the total money the senator’s joint fundraising committee raised in the first quarter. Other investment firms whose executives gave to Sen. Sinema in the first quarter of the year include Bain Capital, Tenaya Capital, and GreenWood Investors.