Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego used campaign and political action committee money to fund luxury travel with his wife, according to a Daily Beast investigation and federal campaign finance records.

The report found that Gallego used campaign funds to take his wife, Sydney, on trips to St. Barts and Miami, traveling to the Caribbean island for the birthday of her boss, a major Gallego donor, and using donor money to celebrate her birthday in Miami the previous year.

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The boss, Texas lobbyist Carlos Zaffirini, leads the consulting firm where Sydney Gallego works. FEC filings show Zaffirini donated the maximum $6,600 to Gallego’s 2024 Senate campaign, $100,000 to the supportive group VoteVets and $5,000 to Gallego’s Juntos PAC.

The St. Barts trip drew scrutiny over timing.

At the time of the visit, the U.S. was still in a partial government shutdown, with federal workers such as TSA agents struggling to make ends meet after missing paychecks. FEC records confirm the Juntos PAC covered a $1,423 American Airlines flight for Sydney Gallego and roughly $1,100 in Spirit Airlines and Tradewind Aviation charges for the senator.

The Miami weekend trip cost even more.

PAC expenses linked to the birthday show three charges to the luxury beachfront Loews Miami Beach Hotel totaling more than $9,161. The Gallegos’ au pair and kids also came for the weekend, according to FEC records reviewed by KTAR News 92.3 FM.

In the past year, Gallego’s campaign reimbursed the senator more than $8,200 for childcare-related payments.

Experts said the spending, while awkward, likely breaks no laws.

“At a common sense level, we can all agree that it probably looks unethical,” Saurav Ghosh of the Campaign Legal Center told the Daily Beast. “Strictly as a legal matter, it’s very difficult to point to a situation like this and say that it’s a clear legal violation.”

Gallego pushed back on social media, noting the FEC permits childcare reimbursement and casting himself as a working father.

“I’m one of the few members of Congress with young children,” he wrote. “I’m one of the least wealthy members of Congress.”

“These pieces swirling around are accusing me of this: fundraising as all politicians do, but doing it as the father of children under 10. That’s it.”

Let me clear the air on some of these stories swirling around. The FEC has stated that childcare may be reimbursed. There is a simple reason: we want Congress to look like America. Not just people without children, those with grown children, or those from wealthy backgrounds.

It…

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) June 22, 2026

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