It’s not been a good week for Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema, a Democratic congresswoman, is running in the Senate race against Republican Rep. Martha McSally. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) decided not to run for re-election because his approval numbers are total garbage. The state has been trending blue. It was going to be competitive, but the nasty Supreme Court battle over Brett Kavanaugh might have motivated the GOP base. We’re starting to see a bump across the country.
In Arizona, McSally now has a six-point lead. To make matters worse, Sinema sort of stretched the truth a bit about her upbringing. She’s called Arizona the crazy state. Oh, and she said it was a “meth lab of democracy.” Now, she’s working to unload campaign contributions from a lawyer accused of sexual assault. This person isn't the only one who has donated to her in years past and had run-ins with the law (via AZ Central):
Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema's campaign said it made a charitable donation to a domestic-violence group to erase $1,750 in donations her campaigns had received over the years from a well-known attorney accused of sexual assault.
Sinema's donations to the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence came after revelations that attorney Sal Rivera had been charged following his Aug. 28 arrest.
This marks the fourth time since 2017 that Sinema, a three-term congresswoman from Phoenix, has been forced to answer for contributions from individuals seen as unsavory.
[…]
According to law-enforcement records, Rivera was kicked out of a restaurant matching the address of Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Garcia's primary election-night party.
A friend offered to give Rivera a ride home. While riding in her back seat, he allegedly pulled on her hair, touched her breast over her clothing and made a comment about oral sex, according to law-enforcement records.
[…]
Earlier this year, Sinema gave another $33,800 to charity to cut ties with Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor scrutinized after a male escort died of a drug overdose at his California home in 2017.
Sinema has done nothing with $11,000 in donations to her U.S. House and Senate campaigns since 2012 from U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas, a California Democrat. He has vehemently denied allegations that he sexually molested and drugged an underage girl in 2007.
Well, that sure is an unsavory bunch, huh. In the meantime, down ticket, incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is holding a strong 17-point lead over his Democratic challenger.