UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 19: Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., attends a news conference after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) routinely used campaign funds to pay for pricey trips — including to both Disneyland and Disney World with his family and to the Super Bowl, according to a report from Politico on Sunday.
The 2023 Super Bowl bash cost nearly $35,000 for event tickets and another $2,715 on a ritzy brunch; The Big Game was held in Gallego’s home state of Arizona that year, and his team dipped into a fund that he was splitting with now disgraced Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) in order to pay for tickets for donors, guests, and his Gallego’s wife Sydney.
“He just spends his campaign account like it’s his personal slush fund,” one source close to Gallego told Politico. “He’s using campaign cash to live a luxury lifestyle.”
Gallego used campaign bucks to fund other family trips as well, including to Chicago and Miami. The liberal senator also spent $18,000 in campaign dough on childcare, with $400 of that going to his mother-in-law.
Politico explained:
Federal lawmakers can legally use campaign committee funds for travel, food, events and even child care, as long as those funds are not for “personal use,” meaning they may not cover activities that would exist irrespective of the campaign, according to the FEC.
That same source told the outlet there is a “pattern,” where Sydney Gallego “just basically rides [his] wave.” That has included 13 campaign-funded trips between Phoenix and Washington, D.C. in 2025, his first year as a senator.
Leadership PACs are not even beholden to that “personal use” rule, meaning lawmakers have broad latitude to use the money they raise as long as it has some fundraising function. Ruben Gallego has leaned into that leeway, with his three children, Sydney Gallego, her mother and their full-time au pair frequently joining the senator on donors’ dime, according to the person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation.
A Gallego spokesperson told Politico, the fund was jointly established with Swalwell established the joint committee “in connection with Super Bowl LVII, and supporters who met the applicable contribution requirements were eligible to attend.” The spokesperson also told Politico, “tickets were purchased at fair market value” and added that “Hosting donors and supporters at sporting events in their areas is a common, bipartisan practice.”
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