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Who spent the most in Arizona's Martha McSally-versus-Kyrsten Sinema Senate race?
Ronald J. Hansen, Arizona Republic Published 8:15 p.m. MT Nov. 7, 2018 | Updated 8:04 a.m. MT Nov. 8, 2018
The television ads were unavoidable and, especially by the end, few left viewers feeling good about their voting options.
Arizona's still-unresolved U.S. Senate race between Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally is poised to shift from winning voters to winning in court. That's hardly a surprise in a race that attracted more than $60 million from outside groups and still lacks a clear winner.
More than 70 outside groups overall spent money in the Senate race, aiming to influence Arizona voter opinions.
Thirty of those groups spent at least $100,000, summaries filed with the Federal Election Commission show. Collectively, the groups spent about $58 million.
Of that, $30 million benefited Sinema, $25 million helped McSally and the rest was spent on Republicans Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio.
By far, the most independent spending came from Defend Arizona, a group with ties to allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. That organization spent at least $17.8 million to help McSally defeat Sinema.
The leading pro-Sinema organization was Majority Forward, which spent $7.5 million for her benefit. The group is organized in a way that doesn't require it to disclose its donors. Its few financial details suggest it has ties to the Senate Majority PAC that involved former staffers to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Both parties also spent significant sums to help their candidates. The National Republican Senatorial Committee spent $6.7 million. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $6.1 million.
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