“You have to go where the money is to raise money,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told Fox News Digital. He was answering questions about campaign-funded trips to the Super Bowl and Miami that recent reporting put under scrutiny.
Politico reported, citing financial filings, that Gallego used his leadership PAC to pay for travel to Miami, Saint Barthelemy, Disneyland, Disney World and Chicago. A source familiar with his spending told Politico that he often brought his family along and used donor money to pay for babysitting. Fox News Digital said it had not cited any FEC finding that the expenses violated campaign finance law.
The Super Bowl
Federal Election Commission records show a joint fundraising committee Gallego ran with former Rep. Eric Swalwell paid for tickets for him and his wife to the 2023 Super Bowl. Swalwell has since resigned from Congress. Gallego called the outing a fundraiser, the “Swallego Victory Fund.”
“The Super Bowl was in Arizona, I represent Arizona,” he said. “We threw a Super Bowl fundraiser in Arizona where we raised money for my election in 2023. That’s what you do.”
The event was held with donors at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, 20 days after Gallego launched his Arizona Senate bid. Politico obtained an invitation showing tickets at $5,000, with a pregame brunch available for another $1,000. The event cost over $37,000. Each lawmaker received roughly $8,000, and the joint committee stopped operating after the game.
A Gallego spokesperson told Politico the tickets were bought at fair market value and that “hosting donors and supporters at sporting events in their areas is a common, bipartisan practice.” Gallego made the same point. “There’s a lot of people that do fundraisers at golf tournaments, at NASCAR, at IndyCar,” he said. “So this is just the very same thing.”
The Miami trip
The Miami trip, paid with PAC money, coincided with his wife Sydney Gallego’s birthday. The couple stayed at the Loews hotel on Miami Beach and charged more than $9,000 in expenses. “We raised about $50,000 in our nine events in Miami,” Gallego said.
His spokesperson told Politico the couple attended several widely attended political events and fundraisers in Miami. The spokesperson gave no specifics and did not address the birthday.
What the rules say
Federal campaign funds generally cannot be converted to personal use. FEC guidance does allow campaign-related travel, meals at fundraising events and childcare costs incurred as a direct result of campaign activity. Trips that mix personal and campaign purposes can require reimbursement for the personal share.
