Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s fundraising may have slumped in the last quarter after her lavish campaign spending, but she apparently has one new and notorious donor: “Evil Elmo.”
The fan — who earned the Evil Elmo moniker after allegedly spewing an antisemitic rant while dressed as the Sesame Street character in Times Square — donated $1,280 to her campaign in the last quarter, according to public election filings.
The man inside the red costume, 59-year-old Adam Sandler — not to be confused with the comedian — has been arrested multiple times in New York and San Francisco for harassing tourists and screaming obscenities and conspiracy theories, according to multiple reports.
This not-so-funny Sandler — who hails from Ashland, Ore., and ran a website from Cambodia called “Welcome to the Rape Camp” — went to jail a decade ago after he tried to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts of America.
“She’s taking money from a guy who gives antisemitic rants in public when Israel is being attacked,” said an Arizona political strategist. “Ideally it’s the job of your finance director to monitor what’s incoming even if it’s an online donation, and be like ‘hmmm no, red flag.’”
Sinema drew the scorn of some donors after On The Money reported she spent more than $100,000 from her coffers on luxury hotels, private jets, limos and fine wines.
Her war chest for next year’s as-yet announced bid to retain her Senate seat still has $10.8 million.
However, during the last quarter, she raised $826,000 — 50% below the $1.7 million she raised in the same quarter last year, records show.
Her challenger, Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, outraised her nearly four to one this last quarter, according to the filings.
The source said Sinema’s donor pool has been shrinking since she changed her party affiliation to independent from Democrat last December.
“Democrats have abandoned her, Republicans only want her in the race because she increases the odds of Kari Lake winning, and everyone else just sees her as a loser,” the source said.
On The Money previously reported her campaign was hounded by angry Democratic donors who want their money back following her decision to ditch the Democratic Party..
According to one source, angry donors were initially told the campaign was working on it — but now they aren’t even getting their calls returned.
Neither the senator nor her staff are even bothering to respond anymore, the source added.
Sinema did not return a request for comment from On The Money.
This isn’t the first time Sandler has donated to a political campaign. In 2016, he gave more than $1,000 to various presidential campaigns, including $500 to Chris Christie, $400 to Jeb Bush and $500 to Donald Trump.
Sources say given the number of donations presidential campaigns receive, it’s much harder to detect rogue donors.
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